The Alison Rayner Quintet, recorded live, deliver some passionate and multilayered music, that is a joy to experience.

Release Date: Available now

Label: Blow The Fuse Records in association with ECN Music

Format: Digital download and CD

A Live Celebration

The SEMA4 album is a celebration of ten years of the Alison Rayner Quintet, recorded live at The Vortex Jazz Club in London, on the 21 and 22 May 2024. The quintet is comprised of a very fine group of musicians: Alison Rayner (basses), Deirdre Cartwright (guitar), Steve Lodder (piano), Diane McLoughlin (saxophones), and Buster Birch (drums). What is immediately striking about this album is the telepathic like synergy between the musicians, that gives the music a seamless quality. Each player has their own unique voice, which the ensemble weave into a tapestry of flowing musical moods and contrasts. Nearly half of the compositions are by bandleader Alison Rayner, with other band members taking up the writing baton for the rest of the pieces.

A Joyous Beginning

Espiritu Libre, written by Alison Rayner, begins with some inventive solo percussive work by drummer Buster Birch. The piece was inspired by a road trip through the Pyrenees to the Basque Country and has an evocative breeziness in the playing. Alison Rayner’s bass work has a singing propulsive quality that really drives the music.  The brief free jazz section that follows the main theme sets the stage for some passionate soloing. Deirdre Cartwright’s sparkling guitar runs flow beautifully into Diane McLoughlin’s wonderfully brash and melodic saxophone phrases. Steve Lodder’s fascinating piano solo is both elegance and free form playing personified. The track is a joyous beginning to the album, which is enthusiastically applauded by the audience.

Looking For A Quiet Place, by Diane McLoughlin, has an aura of immersive pensiveness, particularly evident in the beautifully paced percussion and bass playing and introductory and closing theme led by Diane McLoughlin’s appealingly wistful saxophone. The solos, beginning with Steve Lodder’s spiky piano phrases, add a passionate fire into the piece. A great piece of ensemble playing that demonstrates the striking musical range that these musicians can deliver.

Alison Rayner’s Semaphore features a haunting, and very poignant solo bass introduction. What follows has a captivating dub style, where the bass and drums are wonderfully prominent, both propelling and containing the solo runs. Deirdre Cartwright and Diane McLoughlin, swap some stinging phrases on guitar and saxophone, that noticeably increase the rhythmic tension. Steve Lodder’s clamorous piano foray ensures there is no let up, as the track eventually shatters back into the main thematic phrases.

A Film Noir Sound Picture

Steve Lodder’s Hamble Horror opens with a beautifully flowing piano introduction. The drums and bass then come in and introduce a quite mesmerising rhythmic swing. The overall sound conjures up a sound picture of a Raymond Chandler film noir, underscored by Diane McLoughlin’s strikingly layered saxophone phrasing and Deirdre Cartwright’s probing guitar solo.

Trip Dance composed by Alison Rayner has a marvellous resonance of the intoxicating musical rotation and turns one associates with the Viennese Waltz. The ensembles skilful navigation of this is quite breathtaking, and Alison Rayner’s elegant bass lead holds everything together for the sequence of solos. Particularly uplifting is Steve Lodder’s expansive piano solo and Buster Birch’s explosive drum break. At this point in the album, you get the feeling that there isn’t any musical challenge that this gifted ensemble couldn’t carry off with real style.

Contrasting Musical Atmospheres

The final two tracks on the album, The Handkerchief Tree and All Will Be Well, written by Steve Lodder and Alison Rayner respectively, emphasise the different musical atmospheres the band can create in the live setting. The Handkerchief Tree is a soaring ballad, with intricate layers of sound, and a finely paced rise and fall metre. It has a meditative tonality, underpinned by Alison Rayner’s gracefully flowing bass lines. All Will Be Well, in contrast, has an urban angularity, with an engaging harshness to the piano and saxophone solos, as the music twists and turns, and rails.  

Empathic Interplay

This is a very fine album, full of musical depth and intricacy, aligned to some fiery and passionate live playing. The empathic interplay between the musicians creates a joyful listening experience, and demands repeated plays, allowing the listener to discover new musical elements with each return to this exceptional album.

You can view the official video of the Alison Rayner Quintet playing All Will Be Well from the album, here:

For more information about The Alison Rayner Quintet: Website / Facebook / Bandcamp

Keep up with At The Barrier here on Facebook / X (formerly Twitter) / Instagram / Spotify / YouTube