Past Events

LITTLE JUMBO CREATIVE MUSIC SERIES

Little Jumbo's creative music series functions as a cultural incubator—providing space for the genesis of new musical ideas. Every Monday and Tuesday, we showcase world-class musicians performing original, boundary-pushing work—completely free, no cover charge. This isn't background music; it's music in its purest form: live, unfiltered, and pushing the genre forward in real time. As an incubator, we create space where musicians explore new sonic territories and audiences encounter ideas they've never heard before. Democratizing access to exceptional art is who we are—it's the same philosophy behind everything we do.

Monday
January 5
2026

The CORE

The Core represents everything essential about Asheville's jazz DNA distilled into five musicians who understand that the best ensembles aren't just collections of individual talents—they're alchemical reactions where individual voices merge into something greater than their sum. This quintet embodies the mountain city's unique musical ecosystem, where Blue Ridge authenticity meets sophisticated harmonic exploration, where the intimacy of local venues allows for the kind of musical risk-takin...
Evan Martin - Drums
Justin Ray - Trumpet
Bill Bares - Piano
Zack Page - Acoustic & Electric Bass
Jacob Rodriguez - Saxophone
Admission: FREE!
Wednesday
December 31
2025

New Year's Eve at Little Jumbo with the Soul Jazz Revival

**The Soul Jazz Revival rings in 2026** Velvet curtains between dimensions. Four sonic alchemists stirring champagne bubbles into galaxies. When the clock chases midnight and the year dissolves into pure possibility, there's only one question that matters: where will you be when the groove takes over? This is the moment when midnight stops being a deadline and becomes a threshold. When the rhythms don't just move you—they rewrite your molecular structure. Soul jazz as time travel, as proph...
Quinn Sternberg - Bass
Joe Enright - Drums
Andy Page - Guitar
Alex Taub - Piano
Jacob Rodriguez - Saxophone
Admission: FREE!
Tuesday
December 30
2025

Jay Sanders' Mindtonic featuring Will Boyd, Ben Bjorlie, and Vic Stafford

Picture four monsters sharing a tub of Jiffy Pop over an open flame—that dangerous, beautiful moment when you're not sure if you're about to get perfectly popped kernels or a kitchen fire, but you're committed to finding out together. That's what happens when these four get in a room: controlled chaos, collaborative combustion, and the kind of musical conversation that happens when everyone's holding the pan handle at once. The beauty of monster jazz is nobody's trying to be polite. There'...
Ben Bjorlie - Drums / Bass
Will Boyd - Sax, Flute, Clarinet, EWI
Vic Stafford - Drums
Jay Sanders - Guitar and Effects
Admission: FREE!
Monday
December 29
2025

Brian Felix Organ Quartet Featuring Justin Ray

When Brian Felix sits behind a Hammond B3, something curious happens: the ghost of Jimmy Smith nods approvingly while Jimmy McGriff's ghost mutters "yeah, but can he fix the Leslie when it breaks?" Felix spent his formative years studying piano with Kenny Barron at Rutgers—which is a bit like learning carpentry from a master craftsman and then deciding to become a plumber. Different instrument, same devotion to the craft, equally likely to involve fixing things that leak. After cutting his...
Brian Felix - Organ
Tim Fischer - Guitar
Evan Martin - Drums
Justin Ray - Trumpet
Admission: FREE!
Tuesday
December 23
2025

Danny Iannucci Quartet

Two nights before Christmas, while most people are panic-wrapping presents and pretending their family dynamics are healthy, the Danny Iannucci Quartet will be at Little Jumbo doing something far more therapeutic: playing jazz. This is your chance to escape the tinsel tyranny, the forced cheerfulness, the annual reminder that your uncle has terrible political opinions, and the slow realization that you bought the wrong size sweater for everyone on your list. Danny Iannucci anchors on bass ...
Tim Fischer - Guitar
Ryan Ptasnik - Drums
Dylan Hannan - Tenor Saxophone
Danny Iannucci - Bass
Admission: FREE
Monday
December 22
2025

Alan Hall's Exploritoreum

When a percussion philosopher assembles his laboratory of sound, the walls between rhythm and melody begin to dissolve. This is music as inquiry rather than statement—four sonic investigators treating Little Jumbo's intimate geometry as a place where questions sound better than answers. One arrives carrying four decades of conversations between drum heads and the spaces between continents, his sticks having traced rhythmic philosophies from Cologne jazz clubs to circus tent reveries, from ...
Christian Howes - Violin
Quinn Sternberg - Bass
Bill Bares - Piano
Alan Hall - Drums
Admission: FREE!
Sunday
December 21
2025

Casey Driessen: Sunday Bazaar

Casey Driessen: Sunday Bazaar at Little Jumbo is a monthly residency on the 3rd Sunday where music spills out like treasures in a bustling market. Fiddle loops, wild grooves, sonic oddities, and vibrant rhythms mix together in a swirl of color and sound. Tease your tastebuds with expertly crafted cocktails and soak in the cozy, electric atmosphere. No two nights are alike—wander in, follow your ears, and see what you discover.
Casey Driessen - 5-String Fiddle
Admission: FREE!
Tuesday
December 16
2025

Jay Sanders' Empyrean Trio featuring Zack Page & Alan Hall with Special Guest Isaac McMurry on the 2nd Set

The Empyrean Trio ascends to the highest sphere of musical expression, where Sanders, Page, and Hall commune in the celestial realm of pure improvisation. Like ancient philosophers who believed the empyrean was the highest heaven—a place of fire and light beyond the physical world—this trio inhabits the ethereal space where earthbound genres dissolve into transcendent musical dialogue. Their original compositions float between the terrestrial and the sublime, oscillating from groove-laden ...
Zack Page - Acoustic & Electric Bass
Jay Sanders - Guitar and Effects
Alan Hall - Drums
Admission: FREE!
Monday
December 15
2025

The CORE

The Core represents everything essential about Asheville's jazz DNA distilled into five musicians who understand that the best ensembles aren't just collections of individual talents—they're alchemical reactions where individual voices merge into something greater than their sum. This quintet embodies the mountain city's unique musical ecosystem, where Blue Ridge authenticity meets sophisticated harmonic exploration, where the intimacy of local venues allows for the kind of musical risk-takin...
Evan Martin - Drums
Justin Ray - Trumpet
Bill Bares - Piano
Zack Page - Acoustic & Electric Bass
Jacob Rodriguez - Saxophone
Admission: FREE!
Tuesday
December 9
2025

Jay Sanders' Empyrean Trio featuring Zack Page & Alan Hall

The Empyrean Trio ascends to the highest sphere of musical expression, where Sanders, Page, and Hall commune in the celestial realm of pure improvisation. Like ancient philosophers who believed the empyrean was the highest heaven—a place of fire and light beyond the physical world—this trio inhabits the ethereal space where earthbound genres dissolve into transcendent musical dialogue. Their original compositions float between the terrestrial and the sublime, oscillating from groove-laden ...
Zack Page - Acoustic & Electric Bass
Jay Sanders - Guitar and Effects
Alan Hall - Drums
Admission: FREE!
Monday
December 8
2025

Rodriguez, Bullock, Sternberg & Sergel

When four musical travelers converge at Little Jumbo Bar, expect the conversation to wander through territories unmarked on any genre map. One brings a baritone voice seasoned by continents and street corners, another weaves bass lines that function more as gravitational fields than rhythm, a third treats the drum kit like a philosopher treats questions—with equal parts conviction and curiosity—and the fourth arrives carrying the collected wisdom of Asheville church music, Brooklyn beat labs,...
Chris Bullock - Saxophone, Flute, Clarinet
Quinn Sternberg - Bass
Al Sergel - Drums
Jacob Rodriguez - Saxophone
Admission: FREE!
Tuesday
December 2
2025

THE AVAS CONTINUUM: A TRANS-DIMENSIONAL REUNION OF DISPLACED TEMPORAL MUSICIANS

*[or: "What Happens When a High School Club Achieves Sentience and Summons Its Members Across Space-Time"]* In the year 2000, a progressive acoustic group called AVAS released one album on Little King Records and vanished into the multiverse. Now, twenty-five years later, the quantum entanglement that bound these musicians has reached critical mass, creating a temporal anomaly that threatens to collapse the space-time continuum unless they reconvene and complete the sonic ritual they began...
Jason Krekel - Fiddle, Guitar
Andy Pond - Banjo
Will Boyd - Sax, Flute, Clarinet, EWI
Zack Page - Acoustic & Electric Bass
Gaines Post - Flute, Words
Jay Sanders - Guitar and Effects
Alan Hall - Drums
Admission: FREE!
Monday
December 1
2025

UNCA XTET

The UNCA XTet under the direction of Jacob Rodriguez **Rylan Dunn** - Saxophone **Juca Camera** - Piano **Jack Kilbride** - Guitar **Ethan Matthews** - Bass **Cami Caudle** - Drums Forget everything you think you know about student ensembles. The UNCA XTET isn't a jazz band—it's a sonic petri dish, a living organism that expands and contracts like a musical amoeba, adding saxophones when the composition demands fire, subtracting guitars when space becomes the statement, morp...
Jacob Rodriguez - Saxophone
Admission: FREE!
Tuesday
November 25
2025

The Will Boyd Project

**The Will Boyd Project** isn't just a band—it's a spiritual reckoning delivered through reeds and rhythm, a sonic revival where the sacred traditions of the Black church collide with the revolutionary fire of jazz. Led by multi-instrumentalist and "mad sax man" Will Boyd, this ensemble transforms every performance into a joyful noise that honors the soul sax prophets—Eddie Harris, Hank Crawford, King Curtis—while pushing the movement forward with urgent, right-now energy. From baritone sa...
Will Boyd - Sax, Flute, Clarinet, EWI
Taylor Pierson - Keyboards
Zack Page - Acoustic & Electric Bass
Micah Thomas - Drums
Admission: FREE!
Monday
November 24
2025

Chris Bullock + Justin Stanton Quartet

When Snarky Puppy bandmates Chris Bullock and Justin Stanton—who've spent countless hours together since meeting in Texas in 2005—decided to bring their unique songwriting visions to Rio de Janeiro in 2023, they discovered something magical: Justin's compositions tended toward lighter sounds and feelings, while Chris's carried darker, sometimes sinister hues. The result became "Claro e Escuro" (Portuguese for "light and dark"), an album that celebrates the vibrancy of Brazilian culture while ...
Chris Bullock - Saxophone, Flute, Clarinet
Justin Stanton - Trumpet, Keyboards
Quinn Sternberg - Bass
Ryan Ptasnik - Drums
Admission: FREE!
Tuesday
November 18
2025

Sanders, Boyd, Page & Hall

Sanders, Boyd, Page & Hall distill the pure essence of improvisational expression, converging as alchemists of sound, transmuting musical elements into their most essential forms. This quartet embodies the philosophical concept of quintessence—the fifth element beyond earth, air, fire, and water—representing the fundamental substance from which all musical reality springs. Their original compositions crystallize the essential qualities of diverse influences, oscillating between through-com...
Will Boyd - Sax, Flute, Clarinet, EWI
Zack Page - Acoustic & Electric Bass
Jay Sanders - Guitar and Effects
Alan Hall - Drums
Admission: FREE!
Monday
November 17
2025

The CORE

The Core represents everything essential about Asheville's jazz DNA distilled into five musicians who understand that the best ensembles aren't just collections of individual talents—they're alchemical reactions where individual voices merge into something greater than their sum. This quintet embodies the mountain city's unique musical ecosystem, where Blue Ridge authenticity meets sophisticated harmonic exploration, where the intimacy of local venues allows for the kind of musical risk-takin...
Evan Martin - Drums
Justin Ray - Trumpet
Bill Bares - Piano
Zack Page - Acoustic & Electric Bass
Jacob Rodriguez - Saxophone
Admission: FREE!
Sunday
November 16
2025

Casey Driessen: Sunday Bazaar

Casey Driessen: Sunday Bazaar at Little Jumbo is a monthly residency on the 3rd Sunday where music spills out like treasures in a bustling market. Fiddle loops, wild grooves, sonic oddities, and vibrant rhythms mix together in a swirl of color and sound. Tease your tastebuds with expertly crafted cocktails and soak in the cozy, electric atmosphere. No two nights are alike—wander in, follow your ears, and see what you discover.
Casey Driessen - 5-String Fiddle
Admission: FREE!
Tuesday
November 11
2025

The Empyrean Trio with Special Guests Jason Krekel & Andy Pond

In ancient cosmology, the Empyrean was the highest heaven—a realm of pure fire and light where celestial beings dwelled beyond the planetary spheres, untouched by earthly corruption or temporal decay. It's the perfect name for three musicians who long ago abandoned ground-level groove for something that operates in the stratosphere of sonic exploration. This isn't fusion. Fusion implies things that were separate. This is music that never acknowledged the boundaries in the first place—music...
Jason Krekel - Fiddle, Guitar
Andy Pond - Banjo
Zack Page - Acoustic & Electric Bass
Jay Sanders - Guitar and Effects
Alan Hall - Drums
Admission: FREE!
Monday
November 10
2025

Quinn Sternberg's Mind Beach

Dive into the sonic waves of Quinn Sternberg's Mind Beach—where jazz becomes a landscape and every note washes over you like tide meeting shore. This isn't your typical Monday night. It's an expedition into the spaces between beats, where four master musicians construct entire worlds from reed, string, skin, and ivory. Quinn Sternberg's bass serves as your anchor, holding gravity steady while Jacob Rodriguez's baritone sax paints horizons in deep indigo. Joe Enright's drums pulse like the ...
Quinn Sternberg - Bass
Joe Enright - Drums
Alex Taub - Piano
Jacob Rodriguez - Saxophone
Admission: FREE!
Tuesday
November 4
2025

Sanders, Boyd, Page & Hall

Sanders, Boyd, Page & Hall distill the pure essence of improvisational expression, converging as alchemists of sound, transmuting musical elements into their most essential forms. This quartet embodies the philosophical concept of quintessence—the fifth element beyond earth, air, fire, and water—representing the fundamental substance from which all musical reality springs. Their original compositions crystallize the essential qualities of diverse influences, oscillating between through-com...
Will Boyd - Sax, Flute, Clarinet, EWI
Zack Page - Acoustic & Electric Bass
Jay Sanders - Guitar and Effects
Alan Hall - Drums
Admission: FREE!
Monday
November 3
2025

Jack Wilkins & Dylan Hannan: A Meeting of Tenor Minds

When two tenor saxophone masters converge at Little Jumbo Bar, expect nothing less than a masterclass in how geography shapes sound. **Jack Wilkins** brings his musical atlas—seven albums worth of landscapes painted through reed and breath, from Canadian Rockies to Appalachian ridgelines, Swedish jazz clubs to Grammy-nominated orchestral suites. His horn doesn't just play melodies; it composes entire emotional terrains, whether channeling Banff Centre residencies or mining Blue Ridge mountain...
Andy Page - Guitar
Dylan Hannan - Tenor Saxophone
Justin Watt - Drums
Jack Wilkins - Tenor Sax
Zack Page - Acoustic & Electric Bass
Admission: FREE!
Saturday
November 1
2025

Día de los Muertos Dance Party

Join us at Little Jumbo for a night where the veil between worlds grows thin and the beats never stop! DJ Lil Meow Meow spins hypnotic rhythms that'll wake the dead and keep the living moving until dawn. Adorned with marigold petals and flickering candles, our dance floor becomes a sacred space where ancestors boogie alongside the breathing. Paint your face with sugar skull artistry, sip on mezcal cocktails that taste like liquid starlight, and let the music carry your spirit between realm...
DJ Lil Meow Meow -
Admission: $5
Tuesday
October 28
2025

Sanders, Boyd, Page & Hall

Sanders, Boyd, Page & Hall distill the pure essence of improvisational expression, converging as alchemists of sound, transmuting musical elements into their most essential forms. This quartet embodies the philosophical concept of quintessence—the fifth element beyond earth, air, fire, and water—representing the fundamental substance from which all musical reality springs. Their original compositions crystallize the essential qualities of diverse influences, oscillating between through-com...
Will Boyd - Sax, Flute, Clarinet, EWI
Zack Page - Acoustic & Electric Bass
Jay Sanders - Guitar and Effects
Alan Hall - Drums
Admission: FREE!
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