Alison Rayner Quintet

Alison Rayner bass

Buster Birch drums

Deirdre Cartwright guitar

Diane McLoughlin saxophone

Steve Lodder piano

“An exceptional live act” – The Jazz Mann

“The album is engaging and melodic, with a strong spark of inspired improvisation, making this an easy one to recommend” – All About Jazz (on Sema4)

“Assertive vitality” – Jazzwise

“Highly intelligible music, characterised by individuality, spirit and a sense of freedom” – Val Wilmer

A no-brainer for us: the welcome return of the brilliant, engaging Alison Rayner Quintet, as they collect fans and plaudits with every move they make!

The award-winning and eclectic quintet ARQ, led by bassist and composer Rayner, has spent 12 years crafting a unique sound that draws on jazz, folk, pop and Latin influences.

They are widely celebrated for their four album releases and UK & European touring, across jazz clubs, concert halls and international festivals. They regularly sell out London clubs such as Ronnie Scott’s and the Pizza Express Jazz Club, as well as regional venues across the UK.

Rayner was a key member of iconic and eclectic all-female 80s band The Guest Stars, who took jazz to places it hadn’t previously reached, playing to huge audiences in 17 countries. That magnificent sextet also featured stinging soloist Cartwright, well known separately as a presenter on long-running TV show Rockschool, which showcased her solid, inspired and inspiring grasp of a seemingly limitless range of guitar styles.

McLoughlin led her own 17-piece jazz orchestra Giant Steppes, touring the UK as well as playing at London Jazz Festival. Her alto sound was described by John Fordham of The Guardian as ‘attractively punchy and highly emotive’.

Lodder has enjoyed a fruitful, long-standing association with sax great Andy Sheppard, featuring on landmark records including Soft On The Inside, and also worked with Paul McCartney on his Standing Stone composition.

Birch, a renowned jazz educator (Trinity Laban, Guildhall, Royal Academy) and an unsung hero of the music, was hymned by Jazz Views for his ‘crisply busy drum patterns’, which were also described by Jazzwise as ‘dramatic, punchy…’.

ARQ have been winners in both the Parliamentary Jazz Awards and the British Jazz Awards, and their 2025 album Sema4 was awarded Presto Music Jazz Recording of the Year. Sema4 showcases the quintet’s “stylistic virtuosity and masterful interplay” and has received extensive airplay, press coverage, reviews and live radio sessions, such as for Radio 3 ‘In Tune’ show.

Previous releases August (2014), A Magic Life (2016) and Short Stories (2019) all garnered press acclaim and international radio play, with Rayner winning a prestigious Ivor Novello Composer Award for There Is A Crack In Everything from the Short Stories album.

ARQ performances feature music from all four of the band’s albums, whilst emphasising their latest release. Expect richly nuanced compositions, rhythmic interplay and folk-infused melodies – music that is inventive, colourful and unfailingly melodic, possessed of a strong narrative and cinematic quality.

★ Presto Music Awards Jazz Recording of the Year 2025

★ Ivor Novello Composer Awards ‘There is a Crack in Everything’ 2019

★ All Party Parliamentary Jazz Awards Ensemble of the Year 2018

★ British Jazz Awards Best Small Group 2018