Out Of The Box 2026

Out of the Box brings original music to the Jazz Festival, with new commissions from some of Hull’s most exciting artists. Hull’s rich cultural history will be celebrated through three brand new works that fuse acoustic instruments and technology, offering local musicians an opportunity to create, collaborate and improvise in new and exciting ways.

HARBOUR OF UNREST
Mahmud Ibrahim, Avis Ushie, Abidemi Peter Amosu
A cross-genre live performance blending rap, spoken word and contemporary jazz improvisation. Rooted in Hull’s identity as a harbour city, the work explores movement, migration, restlessness and belonging through structured lyricism, emotional poetry and live saxophone. The piece examines the tension between discipline and freedom within sound, identity and place.

ATTUNEMENT
This collaboration between Fleete (Dave Goff and Jay Moy) and Matthew Smith will create a new work exploring the acoustic profiles of built and wild spaces across Hull, integrating their sonic spatial characteristics as dynamic elements within an improvised performance for saxophone, electric guitar and laptop.

TO SCREAM
Jenni Harrison, Niall Thomas, Eddi Pickard.
Tracing the experience of a lifetime of unexpressed creativity, this commission is a journey led by a self-identifying shadow artist who has always wanted to, but has never formally made or performed original music before, collaborating with two experienced musicians challenged to create through a new lens. This is an artist finally finding permission and someone to listen.