Alison Rayner is a long-standing bass player and composer. She has toured and recorded with the award-winning all-female band Guest Stars and later worked with Deirdre Carwright, Jean Toussaint and Ian Shaw. Alison Rayner is now a leader and ties together many of her musical influences. The Alison Rayner Quintet, which has been playing music for two years, has gained a large and diverse audience. Their music focuses on great grooves, poignant melodies, fluid improvisation and fantastic grooves. They have influences from folk, funk, and Afro-Cuban dancing music. In 2014, Alison Rayner released August, her debut album as a bandleader. It received a lot of praise from the jazz media. It served as a stark reminder to the British jazz community of the depth and breadth of her many undiscovered talents. Alison’s second album, A Magic Life, is out now. It is full of melodic and harmonic references. ARQ is a group with a rich collective history, whose tight, assured playing is perfectly suited to play Rayner’s compositions. It brings together a musical bond that is so joyful and joyous that it is an absolute pleasure being in the same room as them. From http://ukjazz.net
