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.
Saturday
September
13
2025
Saturday Night Dance Party
September 13th at Little Jumbo Bar, DJ Lil Meow Meow transforms Asheville's coziest corner into a sonic time machine where funk ancestors high-five electronic futures. This isn't your typical dance party—it's musical alchemy where vintage soul gets remixed with contemporary fire, and every beat drop feels like discovering a secret handshake between genres.
Picture bodies moving like they're having conversations with the rhythm, while a feline-monikered maestro behind the decks reads the ...
Admission:
$5
Tuesday
September
9
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
September
8
2025
Dr. Bill Bares presents the return of Hard Bop Explosion
Fans of the hard-hitting, iconic Blue Note jazz albums of the 1950s and 1960s will feel right at home with Hard Bop Explosion, a band dedicated to playing hits and rare grooves with authenticity and fire. The band ignited the Asheville scene at Tressas Jazz and Blues in 2012 and was the house band at the Isis from 2013-2015. This September, the band re-ignites at Little Jumbo with a new drummer and a decade’s worth of pent-up energy. Look out!
- Joe Enright - Drums
- Justin Ray - Trumpet
- Bill Bares - Piano
- Zack Page - Acoustic & Electric Bass
- Jacob Rodriguez - Saxophone
Admission:
FREE!
Tuesday
September
2
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
September
1
2025
Steve LaSpina
When a bass legend who's anchored Stan Getz, Jim Hall, and Chet Baker meets Asheville's most intimate jazz room, magic happens. Steve LaSpina brings four decades of New York City jazz mastery to Little Jumbo, joined by drummer Alan Hall (whose sticks have danced behind Lee Konitz across three continents), guitarist Dr. Tim Fischer (where USC precision meets street-level groove), and pianist Dr. Bill Bares (Harvard professor turned piano poet).
This Labor Day evening promises the kind of mu...
Admission:
FREE!
Tuesday
August
26
2025
Jay Sanders, Will Boyd, Zack Page & Alan 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...
Admission:
FREE!
Saturday
August
23
2025
Tuesday
August
19
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
August
18
2025
Tuesday
August
12
2025
Jay Sanders, Will Boyd, Zack Page & Alan 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...
Admission:
FREE!
Monday
August
11
2025
Aaron Irwin TRIO
Aaron Irwin - Saxophones & Clarinets
Mike Baggetta - Guitar
Bill Campbell - Drums
Admission:
FREE!
Sunday
August
10
2025
Authors in Conversation with Denise Kiernan and Bonnie Kistler
CRAFT’s concept is simple:
Denise Kiernan sits down with a writer in this speakeasy setting to discuss not only the writer’s latest publication, but also the craft of writing itself. For each featured author, the Little Jumbo staff will create a specialty cocktail—or mocktail—inspired by either the featured book or the author themselves.
**WHO**
Me, Denise, sitting down with authors from all walks—literary fiction, nonfiction, graphic novelists, mystery authors, romance writers, TV...
Admission:
FREE!
Tuesday
August
5
2025
Monday
August
4
2025
Will Boyd and the Knoxville Crew
Will Boyd- Reeds
Taber Gable- Keys
David Becher- Bass
Kenneth Brown- Drums
Admission:
FREE!
Tuesday
July
29
2025
Monday
July
28
2025
Tuesday
July
22
2025
Monday
July
21
2025
Saturday
July
19
2025
Tuesday
July
15
2025
Monday
July
14
2025
Sunday
July
13
2025
Denise Kiernan & Angie Flynn-McIver
Angie Flynn-McIver is the author of Before You Say Anything: How to Have Better Conversations, Love Public Speaking, and Finally Know What to Do with Your Hands
Admission:
FREE!
Tuesday
July
8
2025
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