ALISON RAYNER QUINTET

SEMA4

Blow the Fuse Records

Alison Rayner, basses; Steve Lodder, piano; Buster Birch, drums; Deirdre Cartwright, guitar; Diane McLoughlin, saxophones.

The Alison Rayner Quintet (ARQ) is headed by an award-winning female bassist and composer. Rayner boasts that the competent musicians in her band are also her great friends. She and Deirdre Cartwright date back to the feminist rock scene days of the 1970s. Additionally, she’s worked with her pianist and saxophonist for over 30 years. The drummer, Buster Birch, met Rayner in 1998. They’ve been working together ever since. Consequently, the close-knit friendship of these musicians translates to a very easy-going, relaxed stage persona. This ‘live’ performance mirrors their comfort level with each other.

“While a live album may require some compromises, it offers something unique, a different vibe and energy that’s hard to capture otherwise,” Alison Rayner expresses her feelings about this project.

Rayner, McLaughlin, Cartwright, and Lodder have all contributed original compositions on this recording. Rayner opens with “Espiritu Libre,” which spotlights Buster Birch on fluid trap drums at the introduction. His drums grabbed the attention of the audience and silenced the packed crowd. Rayner described her composition as representing freedom, the euphoria of escaping, exploring, and discovering.

Track #2 was composed by woodwind player, Diane McLoughlin. On this tune, she plays soprano saxophone. Titled “Looking for a Quiet Place,” McLoughlin describes in the CD liner notes why she composed this tune.

“Away from the constant hum of the city and the relentless chatter of the Internet, I look for a quiet place, either in my mind or in the natural world, where my thoughts can wander and my heart can breathe.”

A tune called “Semaphore” by Rayner may have inspired the cover of this album. Semaphore is a system of sending messages by holding up arms or two flags in certain positions according to an alphabetic code. If you learn semaphore or Morse code, you’ll have a fun way to send messages.

A Cartwright composition called “Signals From Space” begins with the guitar pumping out a single note, kind of like a Morse Code signal on her guitar. She composed this song to celebrate bursts of radio transmissions from galaxies over eight billion light years away from Earth. Just the thought of someone or something trying to communicate with us from space is provocative. Rayner solos on her upright bass.

Pianist Steve Lodder has composed “The Handkerchief Tree” about the Davidia Involucrata tree he spotted in Abney Park, North London. The flowers hang like hankies from the branches of that tree. One of my favorite Rayner compositions is their final song, “All Will Be Well,” where the group soars into a more modern jazz vein while leaving us with a positive message of hope and goodwill.

This is an easy listening jazz album, presented by five good friends based in the UK. It was recorded ‘live’ at the Vortex Jazz Club in London during May of 2024.

Reviewed by Dee Dee McNeil

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