Way Out West(port)

In October 2024 followers of leftfield music were a little surprised to discover an eclectic festival just down the road in Malmesbury. Westport Sound was an ambitious weekend programme of big names from the UK’s jazz, world music, contemporary classical and improvisation scenes, and now the 2025 edition hopes to build on the success of that first event. This year’s line-up includes improv stars like pianist Pat Thomas, sax player Rachel Musson and drummer Mark Sanders as well as punk-folk quartet The New Eves, multi-media artist Kathy Hinde and 137, the avant-jazz supergroup of Portishead guitarist Adrian Utley alongside Larry Stabbins, Jim Barr and Seb Rochford. You can read the full line-up here. We caught up with Benny Dart, one of the organising team behind Westport Sound.

B247: Where is Westport? And why is the festival happening there?

BD: Westport is the old western quarter of Malmesbury on the north bank of the River Avon. (The festival) takes place on Saturday 11th & Sunday 12th October across two venues: The Hayloft – an attic room above our hub, The Three Cups – and St Mary’s Hall, just a minute’s walk from the pub. Our small volunteer team has been running monthly Way Out Westport music nights in the pub for over a year, growing new audiences for adventurous music across North Wiltshire, Gloucestershire & Bristol.

Like many great & wild ideas, the beginnings of Westport Sound came from a pub conversation. Helmed by (landlords) Janinka Diverio and Gary Nagev The Three Cups is a revitalised local venue for live music, vegetarian food and workshops. That crucial conversation began with their friend Richard Wiltshire, another avant-garde music aficionado, proposing an alternative music night in the spirit of their shared friend, the late visionary jazz pianist Keith Tippett’s Rare Music Club. Janinka had worked with Keith for many years and wanted to honour his spirit. I was excited by this and suggested a wider experimental music festival for Westport and our debut weekend happened seven months later.

B247: Had you been involved in organising anything like this before last year?

BD: Outside of last year, not on this scale. I co-founded a bar music venue and co-ran a record shop for five years where we once got pretty close to launching a festival in South Bristol but for COVID. But I’ve organised, programmed & contributed to many shows over a number of years & worked at festivals for a decade.

B247: What (if anything) connects the different acts on the programme?

BD: An adventurous and committed approach to new music, improvisation & collaboration. We were aiming for a programme that dissolves genre distinctions across jazz, classical, post-punk, traditional & electronic music

B247: How were the different acts selected for the programme?

BD: A combination of good musical friends, collaborators & new friends. The programme has a great balance of further-out improvising groups with overlaps from more familiar styles in traditional & punk music.

B247: Was there anyone you felt particularly lucky to have snagged for the programme?

BD: I’m grateful to everyone for getting involved and being up for spending what will be two lovely days in my home town. Of course, inviting jazz musicians such as Pat Thomas, John Butcher & John Edwards – who are recognised as some of the best in London & across Europe – to Malmesbury for the first time is pretty exciting. Similarly, The New Eves are more likely to be found playing to lively field festival crowds as they have done recently at Green Man & End of the Road.

B247: Are there any particular highlights for you in the programme?

BD: All the acts hold the potential to be very special. Alongside the music programme, there are a series of fringe events which include a canteen food banquet, art workshops, a Westport history talk, site specific performances in a friend’s lawn mowing mechanics yard & a record shop.

Westport Sound is at The Three Cups and St Mary’s Hall, Malmesbury on Sat 11/Sun 12

The monthly Way Out Westport sessions are at The Three Cups, Malmesbury