About Us
A Look Into JAS
History
Explore the last 34 years of JAS!
Meet the Team
JAS Board & Staff
Meet the people behind the magic!
The Legal Stuff
Non-Profit Docs
Find a full list of our non-profit documents here
Join Us
Get Involved
Sponsorship, Membership, Volunteering, learn about all the ways to get involved with JAS!
Our events
JAS June Experience
The original June 1991 festival was inspired by its prestigious sister festival in Marciac (southwest) France, a charming village of 1,000 in the rolling hills of Gascogne, near the Basque country. Since it’s beginning the June Experience has evolved from a four day festival which started at the Benedict Music Tent, moved to a spectacular canopy tent in Downtown Aspen, then back to the Benedict Music Tent, and in 2019 was restructured again to include four nights of music in multiple venues spread across the Downtown Aspen Core. Attendees can enjoy as many as 40 acts nightly in 12 diverse venues, all within a short stroll of one another. Music varies from jazz, blues and soul to funk, gospel, world music and more! VIP Experiences with catered dinner, open bars and private concerts nightly are also available.
Labor Day Experience
The Labor Day Experience is an open air, dance oriented extravaganza of popular, R&B, rock, funk, blues, world, and soul music, taking place at Snowmass Town Park, with the spectacular Elk Mountain Range as a backdrop, catering to crowds in excess of 10,000 daily. In 2010 JAS partnered with music giants AEG Live, allowing them to bring even stronger acts to the Aspen/Snowmass community. Since then artists such as Stevie Wonder, John Mayer, Sting, Foo Fighters and Chris Stapleton have all performed.
JAS Café
The JAS Café Downstairs at the Nell began as a series of (3) monthly winter concerts in 2010. In 2012, responding to increasing public demand, JAS expanded the series dramatically to include (8) weekends of winter performances and (6) individual summer evening concerts, making consistent jazz programming in Aspen a truly year-round presence for the first time in JAS’ 22 year history. In addition to shows at The Little Nell, JAS presentedCafé performances in various other locations around town including rooftop at the Aspen Art Museum,. The popularity of the JAS Cafe was what initially inspired JAS to explore a home of their own, which is now a reality with the opening of the Paul JAS Center in December 2025.
JAS Ed History
JAS launched its acclaimed music education programs in 1996 with the Thelonious Monk Institute Jazz Colony, which became the JAS Academy Summer Sessions in 2000-2008 ….the nation’s only all-scholarship summer training program for gifted young emerging jazz artists. The Academy paired these young artists with acknowledged jazz masters such as Herbie Hancock, Dianne Reeves, Russell Malone, Monty Alexander and JAS Academy Artist Director Christian McBride in an intensive series of workshops, seminars and performances. In 2018 JAS reinvigorated the JAS Academy, joining forces with The Frost School of Music at the University of Miami to expand curriculum to include both performance skills and Frost curriculum on the business of music.
Additionally, JAS operates a series of companion music education programs, Local Education Initiatives (LEI), which have become the backbone of public school music funding in the Roaring Fork Valley. With an average annual school music program budget of approximately $1,500 per school, JAS’ annual average commitment of $300,000+ has become essential in supporting local student musicians and instructors.