Aberjazz 2024

21st Fishguard Jazz & Blues Festival

August Bank Holiday weekend

22nd to 26th August

Welcome to the Aberjazz festival which has now been bringing Fishguard to life over the Au- gust Bank Holiday weekend for 21 years, filling the town with live jazz & blues music of the highest quality, workshops, a jazz parade and numerous free events in the Aberjazz Fringe. As usual you can expect to see some of the finest musicians on the UK festival circuit descend on Fishguard for five unforgettable days. Providing a platform for female talent in jazz has become a hallmark of our festival and this year is no exception, illustrated perfectly by our headline act in Theatr Gwaun, “Lady Nade Sings Nina Simone”, a six piece band featuring four of the best women in UK jazz, aptly playing the music of the trail-blazing great, Nina Simone, led by the exceptionally talented Lady Nade. We are also delighted to see some favourites returning to Aberjazz such as King Pleasure and the Biscuit Boys, Billy Thompson’s Gypsy Style, The Washboard Resonators and the inimitable James Oliver who this year will be appearing in Ffwrn with his band. There are also plenty of Aberjazz first timers, The Gin Bowlers, a rowdy and exciting swing band, The Alex Voysey Band, a rising star in the blues world, Jack O’Rourke, one of Ireland’s most gifted up and coming songwriters and French jazz pianist and composer Adrien Brandeis, winner of the best young European Jazz Artist. In total we have 34 musical acts in the main festival, plus many more in the Fringe and more workshops than ever before. The Aberjazz Parade Day is now a fixture of the festival Sunday, with entertainment all day inside and out of the Market hall. There are workshops, for all ages, an open mic where you can showcase your talents and street food as well as a bar. Then at 4pm you can follow the parade through the town, fronted by our dragon, Idris and Les Zoings, a zany, London based brass band who will lead the crowd through the town to the back of the market where the fun continues. The legendary Aberjazz party will as usual close this year’s festival with a double bill of The Bluesters who play a mixture of blues, jazz fusion and funk and Suntou Susso, a multi-instrumentalist kora player, singer and composer from The Gambia. Fishguard is the place to be over the August Bank Holiday for a carnival atmosphere, with an actual carnival and a parade, and plenty of entertainment for jazzers and bluesers of all ages

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