VILNIUS MAMA JAZZ 2026 | Tom Skinner (UK) | Mammal Hands (UK)

Tom Skinner – drums
Francesca Ter-Berg – cello
Chelsea Carmichael – tenor sax, flute
Tom Herbert – bass
Robert Stillman – tenor sax, bass clarinet

Despite popular sociological clichés, middle age is an interesting bridge from which to view the panorama of one's entire life, especially when it comes to creators.

Drummer and composer Tom Skinner is celebrating his 45th birthday with the release of his second album, Kaleidoscopic Visions. Over the course of more than two decades of his incredible career, he has become one of the most prominent figures on the London jazz scene. Skinner is one of the founders of the group Sons of Kemet, which performed at the Vilnius Mama Jazz festival in 2015. He is in demand among well-known electronic music producers and rhythm masters, constantly expanding his field of unconventional musical exploration.

In recent years, he has also become a rising star on the experimental rock scene. In 2018, together with Radiohead members Thom Yorke (vocals, guitar, bass, keyboards) and Jonny Greenwood (guitar, bass, keyboards), he founded the art rock, post-punk band The Smile.

At this year's Vilnius Mama Jazz festival, Tom Skinner will present his latest album, Kaleidoscopic Visions, released last year – visions that shape the artist's view from the bridge between the past and the future, encompassing all these roles and experiences. This is also the role of the band's leader in the debut album Voices of Bishara, released in 2022, which featured a quintet of stars (Tom Skinner, Kareem Dayes, Nubya Garcia, Tom Herbert, Shabaka Hutchings).

Skinner assembled a very colourful and talented team for the performance in Vilnius. One of the members of the award-winning string duo Fran & Flora (together with violinist Flora Curzon), cellist Francesca Ter-Berg is known for her unique musical style, improvisation, jazz, dub, and ethereal string sounds. The mesmerising and innovative saxophonist Chelsea Carmichael has worked with the bands seed. and tuba player Theon Cross, both well known to the Vilnius Mama Jazz audience. Double bassist Tom Herbert, a graduate of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama's jazz and classical double bass program, collaborates not only on the jazz scene. He has performed and recorded with a wide variety of musicians, including rapper André 3000, vocalists Grace Jones, Paolo Nutini, Frank Ocean, Adele, David Gilmour, jazz musicians Mulatu Astatke, Charles Tolliver, Paul Motian, Alabaster DePlume, electronic music duo the Chemical Brothers, and even artist Yoko Ono. The American online music magazine Pitchfork says this about the band's saxophonist: "Robert Stillman is conjuring the sound of a full ensemble – one with the ability to mystify, dazzle, and soothe with every twist".

Skinner himself is a long-time Londoner, behind the scenes – a husband and father, a guardian of musical experience, a sensitive soul capable of adapting to old and new connections. Beauty for him is not extreme, but masterful, not crisis-driven, but influential – a document of how feelings sound at the present moment.

There is no doubt that Vilnius Mama Jazz audiences are not short of ideas. A concert that is worth attending with an open mind and heart is the least these talented artists deserve.

Mammal Hands (UK)

Jordan Smart – sax
Nick Smart – p
Rob Turner – dr, perc

The United Kingdom is one of the jazz directions with which the Vilnius Mama Jazz audience is particularly familiar. Over the 25 years of the festival's existence, we have presented both the older generation of luminaries and younger, but no less prominent talents from this country.

This year's festival stage will feature a new generation of boundary-breaking UK artists: the group Mammal Hands. Over the course of nearly fifteen years, the trio has formed a unique soundscape that blends jazz, contemporary classical and electronic music, as well as folk and minimalism. Having released five critically acclaimed albums, they have gathered an international community of fans who are drawn to the band's dynamic energy, warmth, and deeply connecting music.

The sound of Mammal Hands is difficult to define precisely – it balances between the worlds of classical and contemporary music. The energy of post-rock and the sensitivity of folk merge into a sound that is equally effective in the studio and on stage. Due to various influences – such as Pharoah Sanders, Gétatchèw Mekurya, Terry Riley, and Steve Reich – their music is often described as hypnotic, but perhaps it would be more accurate to say captivating.

In Mammal Hands' work, it is not the quantity of sounds that is important, but their interrelationships. The saxophone lines often sound like breathing, the piano repetitions create a rhythmic foundation, and the drums support the movement rather than accentuate it. This balance between structure and freedom has become one of the band's most distinctive features, allowing them to find listeners not only on the jazz scene, but also among audiences of electronic, post-club, and even contemporary classical music. It is no surprise that the trio from Norwich (England) quickly earned praise from Bonobo, Tom Ravenscroft, Jamie Cullum, and Gilles Peterson for their innovative approach.

During their career, the group has released five albums under the Gondwana Records label. However, their latest work, Circadia (2026), was released on the legendary ACT label, home to the innovative Esbjörn Svensson Trio. This is the band's first release with their long-time friend and new drummer Rob Turner, who performed with GoGo Penguin at the Vilnius Mama Jazz festival in 2019.

"This album is about change, about the cycles of endings and new beginnings, and it feels like a perfect match — a moment where our own evolution as a band meets a label that has, for decades, put art and music at the heart of everything it does" say the band members.

The title of their latest album, Circadia, comes from the term "circadian," which originates from the Latin words circa ("around") and dies ("day"). The band's creative focus is on cyclical processes, natural repetitions, and inner rhythm. This is not an attempt to define how music "should" sound, but rather an invitation to a process in which presence in time is more important than demonstrating results.

The new album offers a meditative and rhythmic journey, rich in hypnotic motifs and enchanting melodies. Imagine trance music, but in acoustic form. Mammal Hands' aesthetic is particularly close to the context of Vilnius Mama Jazz – a festival that has long since transcended strict genre boundaries and become a space for contemporary jazz thinking in the broadest sense. Therefore, the band's music sounds like a natural part of the program here – open, unpretentious, but demanding attention.

Mammal Hands' live performances are often described as an experience that changes in real time – music that does not seek to leave an impression, but rather creates a state of mind and allows it to happen.

Sometimes that is enough to make you want to be present when it happens.

The festival is funded by the Lithuanian Council for Culture and Vilnius City Municipality.