Sunday Night @ the Globe: ARQ - The Alison Rayner Quintet - Oct. 31

(Photo by Russell)

Diane McLoughlin (tenor/soprano saxes); Steve Lodder (piano); Deirdre Cartwright (guitar); Alison Rayner (bass/bass guitar); Buster Birch (drums).

The room was full. I can't remember seeing so many in the downstairs bar. The JNE faithful were there, along with the Globe regulars and those of us who simply go where the music takes them.

This co-promotion between Jazz North East and the Jazz Co-op was one of the best jazz gigs at the Co-op's HQ since, well, er, since ARQ played the upper room back in 2018.

(© Ken Drew)

Although leader/bassist Rayner composed most of the pieces, Lodder, McLoughlin and Cartwright also chipped in with compositions of their own. Someone described it as retro-funk whatever that is. Well, from now on, I'm a retro-funk fan.

Each and everyone soloed as if Armageddon were on the horizon and maybe it is. Ranging from reflective pastoral themes to kick the door down and put the boot in explosions the dynamics in both solos and ensembles were a masterclass in the art of contrast.

The numbers were, in the main, taken from the band's third album - Short Stories - and included A Crack is Everything; Buster Breaks a Beat; A Braw Boy; The Trunk Call; Life Lived Wide; Seeing Around Corners.

Queer Bird was slightly different inasmuch as it was an unconventional take on more conventional jazz with a particular leaning towards Monk and other bebop icons. Loved it!

To finish, Rayner switched to electric bass (she'd alternated between her two instruments throughout the session) for A Portrait of Jaco. 

The band, like the audience, finished on a high - Lance