Mammal Hands

Mammal Hands will play TivoliVredenburg in Utrecht on 27 May 2026. The trio from Norwich — saxophonist Jordan Smart, pianist Nick Smart and drummer/percussionist Jesse Barrett — moves between contemporary jazz, minimal music and influences from various traditions. Their signature: pulsing piano patterns, melodic sax lines and cyclical rhythms that draw as much from spiritual jazz as from classical repetition and folk.

Under the aegis of Gondwana they have, since Animalia (2014) and Floa (2016), built their own sonic world, further developed on Shadow Work (2017), the EP Becoming (2019), Captured Spirits (2020) and Gift from the Trees (2023). Live, the focus is on texture and group dynamics: long arcs of tension, subtle shifts and a clear balance between composition and improvisation. The pieces move from atmospheric layers to a tighter pulse and rhythmic patterns, with echoes of ambient and electronic currents despite the absence of electronic instruments. An instrumental journey that remains compact but allows room to breathe and to appreciate detail.