ARQ – Alison Rayner Quintet

Alison Rayner’s Quintet, ARQ, has been touring jazz clubs, concert halls and international festivals across the UK and Europe for 12 years, regularly selling out London venues such as Ronnie Scott’s and Soho Pizza Express Jazz Club. They have been recent winners in both the Parliamentary Jazz Awards and the British Jazz Awards. Their 2025 release Sema4 showcases the Quintet’s “stylistic virtuosity and masterful interplay” and has received extensive airplay, press coverage, reviews and live radio sessions, such as Radio 3’s In Tune show. Previous releases include A Magic Life (2016) and Short Stories (2019) which garnered press acclaim and international radio play, with Rayner winning a coveted 2019 Ivor Novello Composer Award for ‘There is a Crack in Everything’ from Short Stories. This special afternoon concert features music from all four ARQ 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. “The much-lauded, award-winning, and very eclectic quintet, ARQ releases its fourth album this month, SEMA4. If that sounds like a faintly cryptic title, the music is anything but, mingling folk-dance vitality, high-energy soloing, ambient spaciness and episodes of poignant tenderness” John Fordham, UK Jazz News (March 2025) The Quintet’s chemistry is rooted in enduring relationships and Rayner credits their musical cohesion to the strong bonds they have developed over years of collaboration: “Each musician in this band has their own voice, but together we have built something even greater than the sum of its parts.” “Throughout the night, the Quintet displayed exceptional musical chemistry and sensitivity. It was not just a concert, but a masterclass in musical storytelling and collective expression. The Alison Rayner Quintet reminded us that jazz at its best is a conversation – full of emotion, nuance, and shared human experience” Betty Accorsi , Jazz in Europe (July 2025) PERFORMERS: Deirdre Cartwright guitar Steve Lodder piano Diane McLoughlin saxophone Alison Rayner bass Buster Birch drums