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Jazz Articles about Deirdre Cartwright

About Deirdre Cartwright

Album Review

Multi-award-winning guitarist Deirdre Cartwright returns 15 years after her previous release with Organik. Far from relaxing in the intervening years, she has been collaborating widely, performing with the Alison Rayner Quintet, winning the public vote for Best Guitarist at the 2019 British Jazz Awards and authoring several guitar tuition books. The album points towards the guitarists who have been major influences on her, alongside new original material. She is joined by Pete Whittaker on Hammond organ and Gary ...

Album Review

Alison Rayner Quintet: SEMA4

by Neil Duggan
March 9, 2025

Live albums offer a snapshot of a band at a particular time, sometimes capturing them at their peak, when the adrenaline is flowing and the group's energy and cohesion are at their best. SEMA4 by the Alison Rayner Quintet (also known as ARQ) is such an album. It was recorded live at the Vortex Jazz Club in East London in mid-2024. Having previously released three albums on the Blow The Fuse label: August (2014), A Magic Life (2016) ...

Album Review

Alison Rayner Quintet: Short Stories

Read "Short Stories" reviewed by Chris May

by Chris May
March 4, 2020

The Alison Rayner Quintet's third album is good medicine. Despite the sad events which inspired it, about which more in a moment, Short Stories tells its tales through strong melodies, sinewy rhythms and luminous solos, is by turns tender and exuberant, has an uplifting narrative arc, and simply makes you feel better for listening to it. Rayner has been a hero of British jazz since the mid 1980s when, with ARQ's guitarist, Deirdre Cartwright, she was a member ...