Westport Sound is an inaugural 2 day festival of improvised, adventurous & new music taking place in the historic North Wiltshire market town of Malmesbury; it’s sited in the old western quarter of the town known as Westport, on the north bank of the River Avon overlooking the green expanse of Daniel’s Well. With a programme that dissolves genre distinctions across jazz, classical, post-punk, traditional & electronic music, it takes place on Saturday 12th & Sunday 13th October across two venues: a 50 capacity room - The Hayloft - above our hub, The Three Cups pub & in St Mary’s Hall, a 100 capacity old town hall, a minute's walk from the pub.
Saturday’s line up is headed by the punk-funk howl of the free spirited Blurt alongside the deep trance power of Moroccan Gnawa master Mohamed Errebbaa & the Krautrock motorik sound collage of experimental, electronic music collective Longstone, with the free jazz of the Rachel Musson Trio alongside crashing electronic sets in the Hayloft. Sunday’s rich programme is a master class in close listening with the visionary harpist Rhodri Davies, International Anthem signed angular post-jazz bassist Ruth Goller, an audience participatory improvisation on Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite from a trio of celebrated Bristol musicians James Gow, Tina Hitchens & Dan Johnson with the closing of Westport Sound played out by a quartet of free jazz greats led by Paul Dunmall & Julie Tippetts.
Malmesbury is a half an hour drive from Bristol & Stroud, twenty minutes from Bath & Chippenham train station that has regular London, Swindon & Bristol journeys. Help with accommodation is also available from the Malmesbury Tourist Information Centre and please email westportsound@gmail.com with any questions. Weekend / day tickets available here.
