Much-lauded, award-winning and eclectic quintet ARQ, led by bassist and composer Alison Rayner, has spent twelve years crafting a unique sound that draws on jazz, folk, pop and Latin influences. 

ARQ’s new release Sema4 showcases the quintet’s “stylistic virtuosity and masterful interplay.” Sema4 was awarded Presto Music Jazz Recording of the Year and has received extensive airplay, press coverage, reviews and live radio sessions, such as Radio 3 ‘In Tune’ show.  Previous releases - August (2014) , A Magic Life (2016) and Short Stories (2019) - all garnered press acclaim and international radio play, with Rayner winning a coveted Ivor Novello Composer Award for ‘There is a Crack in Everything’ from Short Stories.  

ARQ have been winners in both the Parliamentary Jazz Awards and the British Jazz Awards. They regularly sell out London clubs such as Ronnie Scott’s and the Pizza Express Jazz Club and are well-known in regional venues across the UK as well as European jazz clubs, concert halls and international festivals.

This Jazz in the House performance will feature 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.   

“Mingling folk-dance vitality, high-energy soloing, ambient paciness and episodes of poignant tenderness” John Fordham, UK Jazz News (March 2025) 

“A masterclass in musical storytelling and collective expression – full of emotion, nuance, and shared human experience” Jazz in Europe 

“Bright, open jazz music that rejoices in human experience without sentimentalising it” ★★★★ BBC Music Magazine  

Programmed by Blow the Fuse

Alison Rayner - bass

Buster Birch - drums

Deirdre Cartwright - guitar

Diane McLoughlin - saxophone

Steve Lodder - piano

Tickets

Standard £15.50
Unwaged Concession £12.50
Under 35s Concession £8

Please note that all tickets, including tickets purchased on the door, are subject to a £1.50 booking fee.