SML

An ingenious blend of electronics and improvisation, SML make “strikingly original and wildly evocative art-fusion" (SPIN). With a lineup known for work with Jeff Parker, Makaya McCraven, and Meshell Ndegeocello, their 2024 debut made Pitchfork’s list of Most Anticipated Albums of Summer, and they bring their singular approach and masterful interplay to this appearance on the heels of their 2025 San Francisco Jazz Festival performance.  

This quintet—featuring bassist Anna Butterss, synthesist Jeremiah Chiu, saxophonist Josh Johnson, percussionist Booker Stardrum, and guitarist Gregory Uhlmann—embodies the spirit of creative risk-taking and collaboration that defined their former home base, the now-shuttered ETA (Enfield Tennis Academy) club in L.A.’s Highland Park neighborhood. 

Johnson, Chiu, and Uhlmann are all transplants from Chicago’s explosively innovative jazz scene, and SML represents a decidedly West Coast take on the free blend of genres, technology, and experimentation that has flourished in the Windy City.  

SML’s debut album, Small Medium Large, captures the group’s live-wire energy, blending extended improvisation with cutting-edge studio production. Recorded over two packed nights at ETA and later sculpted through digital editing and sampling, the album is a thrilling testament to the possibilities of modern jazz.