Thank you to everyone who came to the

21st Fishguard Jazz & Blues Festival

August Bank Holiday weekend

22nd to 26th August 2024

Aberjazz brought Fishguard to life over the Bank Holiday weekend with the 21st Fishguard Jazz ‘n’ Blues Festival.  The Aberjazz 5 day festival is now widely acknowledged as the number 1 UK jazz and Blues festival, at least alphabetically!   In total there were 22, mostly sold-out concerts in the main programme, 13 workshops and in excess of 25 performances in the AberjazzFringe, plus a jazz parade and even an Aberjazz float in the Carnival . It started very well indeed on Thursday in Ffwrn with a double bill headed by the highly acclaimed Washboard Resonators, the first of 10 events in Ffwrn, all double bills with the exception of the triple bill on bank holiday Monday afternoon. Peppers, Fishguard’s intimate jazz café and art gallery, also held 10 concerts featuring leading jazz musicians from Wales, England, Ireland and France.
Theatr Gwuan sold-out twice, firstly on the Thursday when the Moscow Drug Club returned to Fishguard with their unique theatrical Berlin/Eastern European jazz sound, led by Canadian born vocalist Katya Gorrie and her backing group of 5 incredible musicians from Bristol.  On Bank Holiday Friday, possibly the highlight of the weekend, we saw Lady Nade performing the music of Nina Simone.  Lady Nade has a distinctive voice that has won her several awards and this musical journey was a wonderful tribute to the iconic Nina Simone.  She was joined by five fine musicians whom she introduced individually throughout the performance, all having personal and touching connections with Nade.  Possibly the main event in Ffwrn was King Pleasure and the Biscuit Boys led by Big John 'Boysey' Battrum, these dazzling musicians from the Midlands gave us a riveting stage performance finishing with 3 encores.   In St Mary’s Church, a relatively new venue for Aberjazz, Lowri Evans attracted a large audience who reveled to her emotional renditions of her own music, beautiful sung in Welsh and English.  Another highlight of the weekend was virtuoso violinist, Billy Thompson and his gypsy jazz band; Billy enjoyed himself so much he stayed with his family until the end of the festival.
 In Peppers sell out audiences delighted to astounding performances from the likes of Lyndon Owen in Coltrane Dedication, award winning jazz vocalist, Victoria Klewin, and two Irish acts, Sharon Clancy, sponsored by Culture Ireland’s project, “Beyond Two Shores” and songsmith, Jack O’Rourke, already well established in Ireland and beginning to make a name for himself on the “main land”. 
The festival ended, as always, with the Aberjazz Party in Ffwrn this year headed  Suntou Susso. This colourful band kept everyone on their feet to the sound of Suntou’s Kora right to end.  Alice and Paul of Aberjazz would like to thank their sponsors, the Arts Council of Wales, Fishguard Town Council, Pembrokeshire County Council, Agritrader and Stena Line, Guy (the sound guy), all their volunteers who put in long hours over the extended weekend, also accommodating many of the artists, some of whom have traveled a long way to get to our lovely town on the far western coast of Wales.   

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