In 1983, Deirdre Cartwright provided the guitar tuition element of the BBC/PBS series Rockschool alongside bass guitarist Henry Thomas and drummer Geoff Nicholls. In 1989, along with Alison Rayner, she started a regular monthly night at the Vortex Jazz Club called Blow The Fuse. She was a member of the popular Guest Stars sextet which toured widely in the UK and abroad during the 1980s. She is currently a member of the Alison Rayner Quintet, and leads her own trio Organik. ‘If there is a more complete guitarist in contemporary music than Deirdre Cartwright – I’d like to know who it is ’ Dave Gelly The Observer. In 2019 she won the public vote at the British Jazz awards and became a fellow of the RSL in 2022.
Bassist and composer Alison Rayner has been a stalwart of the UK jazz scene for many years and is probably best known for her membership of the Guest Stars, the all-female group who emerged at the time of the 80s jazz boom
‘She reveals a remarkable talent for absorbing grief and observing monumental vistas to re-express them as elegiac compositions.’ London Jazz News
Alison won an Ivor Novello Composer Award in 2019.