Kuumbwa Celebrates at 50

By Yoshi Kato I Dec. 16, 2025

The Kuumbwa leadership team, from left, Chanel Enriquez, Tim Jackson and Bennett Jackson.

(Photo: r.r. jones)

When reflecting on Kuumbwa Jazz’s mighty legacy during its golden anniversary year, consider its office equipment.

“We had a manual typewriter and a single phone line,” said Tim Jackson, Kuumbwa Jazz artistic advisor and co-founder, looking back at the organization’s humble beginnings in 1975. “There was certainly no internet, and there weren’t even any fax machines.

“When we finally got an electric typewriter, we thought we died and gone to heaven,” he continued, in an hour-long interview at Kuumbwa’s conference room. Since then, the Santa Cruz, California-based non-profit has added a Meyer sound system, video recording and streaming capability and a recent $150,000 HVAC upgrade to its Kuumbwa Jazz Center (KJC).

Founded by Jackson, former KUSP radio programmer Sheba Burney and late KUSP DJ Rich Wills, Kuumbwa Jazz has been a concert presenter and educational institution with its 3,000-square-foot center in downtown Santa Cruz since 1977. A reflection of Northern California beach culture, Kuumbwa’s first event was held in a public park with saxophonist Joe Henderson and trumpeter Eddie Gale as headliners. Since then, the KJC has hosted concerts by everyone from pianist/bandleader Sun Ra, vocalist Helen Hume and saxophonist Teddy Edwards to pianist Geri Allen, vocalist/pianist Diana Krall and saxophonist Immanuel Wilkins.

Concerts are mainly presented on Monday evenings as well as some Thursdays, though special shows can happen any day of the week. (Kuumbwa is also rented out to independent presenters.) The Monday scheduling harkens to Kuumbwa’s early days.

“When we started, it was Keystone Korner,” Jackson, now 71, recounted, referring to the famed spot in San Francisco’s North Beach neighborhood that hosted world-class jazz performers from 1972 to 1983. “So we glommed onto Todd Barkan’s organization.” With Keystone’s multinight runs serving as anchor dates, Jackson booked those headliners on their off night.

Kuumbwa’s current generational legacy is especially apparent in its educational program. “You’ll see students like the Le Boeuf brothers,” identical twins Remy (saxophone) and Pascal (piano), Jackson said. “They start out in our honors ensemble, and then they come back and perform as a big band leader and a Grammy winner.”

“Kuumbwa was a perfect storm of things that were great for me as a budding musician,” Remy Le Boeuf replied when asked about his personal history with the organization. “It brought in artists from around the world, and it also had the Jazz Honor Band educational program.”

He recalled chatting in the green room with Michael Brecker and also shaking McCoy Tyner’s hand. “So whenever I play there” — including a sold out Le Boeuf Brothers homecoming concert back in July — “I feel this responsibility to be as cool as them, which is impossible,” he chuckled.

Kuumbwa’s 50th is being celebrated in small and big ways. The club’s decor, which has boasted oversized KJC performance candids of the likes of bassist/vocalist esperanza spalding and saxophonist Donny McCaslin by house photographer r.r. jones, has been replaced with handbills and posters from early shows. There was a free concert in May at the very nearby San Lorenzo Park commemorating the inaugural 1975 event that started it all. And the popular Spirit of ’75 Series showcases locally based musicians for a throwback $19.75 ticket price.

The Spirit of ’75 Series was conceived by 37-year-old Bennett Jackson, Kuumbwa’s new creative director. As Tim’s son, Bennett literally grew up at the KJC. After forging his own career path elsewhere, he became Kuumbwa’s marketing director in 2017 and this year transitioned to his current position, which now includes booking and branding in addition to marketing.

Chanel Enriquez, in turn, was named Kuumbwa’s executive director in March. The 30-year-old San Diego native and UC Santa Cruz alumna worked her way up from a volunteer in 2017 to development and systems coordinator in 2019 and then managing director in 2022. Replacing longtime Kuumbwa executive director Bobbi Todaro, she and Bennett Jackson form a new dynamic duo that bucks tradition to share in educational outreach efforts. As a relative newcomer, Enriquez was quickly impressed with the longstanding community — from staff to volunteers to ever-returning patrons — that was a part of Bennett Jackson’s upbringing.

The capstone to Kuumbwa’s 50th anniversary celebrations happened on Dec. 13 with a pair of concerts featuring an all-star group of trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire, saxophonist Joshua Redman, flutist Elena Pinderhughes, pianists Billy Childs and Gerald Clayton, bassist Reuben Rogers and drummer Gregory Hutchinson. East Bay Area native Pinderhughes’ history with Kuumbwa goes back over a decade, when she performed at the KJC in Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah’s band. More recently, she gave the world premiere of A Diaspora Journey in February 2023, which was commissioned by Kuumbwa.

“I have nothing but praise for Kuumbwa,” Pinderhughes said. “There’s always a supportive family and very professionally run atmosphere at every show.” DB