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
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 ...
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.
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 ...
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 ...
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
- Al Sergel - Drums
- Quinn Sternberg - Bass
- 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
- Alan Hall - Drums
- Jay Sanders - Guitar and Effects
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...
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
- Alan Hall - Drums
- Jay Sanders - Guitar and Effects
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.
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
- Alan Hall - Drums
- Jay Sanders - Guitar and Effects
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 ...
Admission:
FREE!
Sunday
November
9
2025
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
- Alan Hall - Drums
- Jay Sanders - Guitar and Effects
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...
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
- Alan Hall - Drums
- Jay Sanders - Guitar and Effects
Admission:
FREE!
Monday
October
27
2025
Brian Felix Organ Trio w/ special guest Will Boyd
The Brian Felix Organ Trio brings the church to the cocktail lounge on October 27th, with special guest Will Boyd turning sacred fire into sound. Felix's fingers conjure Jimmy Smith's ghost through drawbars and Leslie speakers, walking bass lines with his left hand that make upright players weep with envy while his right hand preaches the gospel according to groove. Behind him, Evan Martin's drums don't just keep time—they tell stories, whispering and roaring in perfect collaboration. Dr. Tim...
Admission:
FREE!
Tuesday
October
21
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
- Alan Hall - Drums
- Jay Sanders - Guitar and Effects
Admission:
FREE!
Monday
October
20
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
October
14
2025
Jay Sanders' Quintessence ft. Will Boyd, Alan Hall & Quinn Sternberg
**The Jay Sanders Quintessence** distills the pure essence of improvisational expression, where four musical alchemists converge to transmute sound into its most fundamental form. This quartet embodies the philosophical concept of quintessence—the fifth element beyond earth, air, fire, and water—representing the primordial substance from which all musical reality springs.
Rooted in Taoist principles of interconnectedness, the Quintessence operates as a living system where individual consci...
- Will Boyd - Sax, Flute, Clarinet, EWI
- Quinn Sternberg - Bass
- Alan Hall - Drums
- Jay Sanders - Guitar and Effects
Admission:
FREE!
Monday
October
13
2025
The Page Brothers Django Quartet
When four master stringsmen gather to channel the spirit of Django Reinhardt, expect the kind of musical magic that happens when tradition meets fearless innovation. The Page Brothers—Andy's jazz guitar sophistication meeting Zack's rhythmic prowess that's averaged 275 gigs per year since the '90s—anchor this drummerless exploration of gypsy jazz at its most sublime. Steve Trisman's fiddle brings the fire that transforms contra dance floors into celebrations, while Leo Johnson's golden-era gu...
Admission:
FREE!
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