SML at Buskirk-Chumley Theater, Thursday, Nov 5

The Los Angeles quintet behind How You Been brings its loop-and-groove jazz to Kirkwood Avenue a week from Thursday, then stretches into an expanded "SML XL" second set with John Raymond and Greg Ward.

Picture the Buskirk-Chumley's marquee lit up on Kirkwood a week from Thursday, with a crowd of jazz students, record-store regulars and the plain curious filing in under it. Not many bands get Bloomington's jazz school, its best-known venue and a Chicago record label to put their names on the same night. SML has done it.

SML plays the Buskirk-Chumley Theater on Thursday, Nov. 5. Doors open at 6:30 p.m., the music starts at 7, and the show is all ages. The theater's event listing puts IU Jazz Studies, the Jacobs School of Music, International Anthem Record Company and Visit Bloomington on the bill as presenters. Tickets are sold through the theater's ticketing partner, Opendate, or in person at the BCT box office at 114 E. Kirkwood Ave.

The night has one twist. John Raymond and Greg Ward are not opening the show. According to the venue listing, they join the band for a second set billed as "SML XL featuring John Raymond & Greg Ward." You get SML as a five-piece first, then a bigger version of the band after the break. If you usually skip the opener and turn up late, don't do that here.

The five-piece is a Los Angeles band, and every member is a strong player in their own right: Anna Butterss on bass, Jeremiah Chiu on synthesizers, Josh Johnson on saxophone, Booker Stardrum on drums and percussion, and Gregory Uhlmann on guitar. They record for International Anthem, and Free Jazz Blog calls them the label's in-house supergroup. Their 2024 debut was *Small Medium Large*. The second album, *How You Been*, followed on International Anthem in 2025.

This is a jazz band, but it doesn't sound much like a standards night. SML's music comes out of improvisation. It leans on repetitive structures that shift subtly over time, with synthesizers and electronics alongside saxophone, guitar, bass and drums. That makes the Buskirk a smart room for them. The historic former vaudeville and movie house dates to 1922 and has about 600 seats, so it's big enough to feel like an event and small enough that you can hear every texture.

Bloomington gets the first night of this run. Our records show no earlier SML show in town. The next night the band plays the Wexner Center for the Arts in Columbus, and a Baltimore date follows on Nov. 8. Getting to the first stop of a run usually means the band is fresh and still finding things in the material, and the "XL" set is a one-off in the schedule we've seen.

You get SML as a five-piece first, then a bigger version of the band after the break.

What to know before you go: doors at 6:30, music at 7, all ages. With two sets, plan on a full evening rather than a quick hour. The box office is open Tuesday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday from noon to 5 p.m., and on show nights it stays open until 30 minutes after showtime. That's handy if you'd rather pay in person than online. Kirkwood will be busy with dinner crowds, so give yourself time to park.

The jazz school's name on the bill matters too. Some of the people in the seats will be students hearing where the music is going right now, played by a band that treats a groove as something to build on. Bring someone who says they don't like jazz. This may change their mind.

Sources: SML — Buskirk-Chumley Theater event listing (buskirkchumley.org); Buskirk-Chumley Theater — Events (buskirkchumley.org); Buskirk-Chumley Theater — Box Office (buskirkchumley.org); Opendate tickets — SML Nov 5, 2026 (app.opendate.io); SML official site (sml.band); Wexner Center for the Arts — SML (wexarts.org); Free Jazz Blog — SML (freejazzblog.org); Tower Records — SML, How You Been (release details) (towerrecords.ie); Buskirk-Chumley Theater — Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org); Big Fish Booking — SML (bigfishbookingco.com)