Thursday 15th June - 'ARQ' - £10/8 students

Blow the Fuse Records presents A Magic Life...

‘Inspired by real-world ideas, people and situations but infused with the kind of heady imagination that transforms their resonances into a series of vivacious musical adventures’ - ***** BBC Music Magazine

‘A gorgeous album synthesising mood, melody and the interplay between musicians totally at home with each other.’ **** Jazzwise

‘Spirited, eloquent and graceful’ *** The Guardian

‘Purposeful, full-toned and melodic… a beautifully integrated band’ ****
The Observer

‘If the first rule of life is to do what makes you happy, this album tumbles and flows with such a spirit, performed by a quintet whose musicality and heart enables it; a celebration of life itself ‘ LondonJazzNews

“An album of unified musical dexterity, with not a note wasted and with sound as story – clear and undisguised, deeply affecting and unashamedly open”
The Morning Star

Alison Rayner  bass
Buster Birch  drums, percussion
Deirdre Cartwright  guitar
Diane McLoughlin  saxophones
Steve Lodder  piano

‘Is music stronger than magic, a young boy asked Alison Rayner? And here’s one answer: a gorgeous album synthesising mood, melody and the interplay between musicians totally at home with each other. Not that ‘A Magic Life’ is complacent or cosy; Lodder’s keys always challenge, Cartwright remains that most chameleon of players, able to summon the spirit of others while retaining her own voice, and McLoughlin can mix a keening tone with a melodic sweetness. It’s all there, even in the apparently throwaway fun of ‘The Trunk Call’ that sashays between a bluesy theme, a dub ska breakout and a South Indian theme like it’s the most obvious of musical conversations, which, obviously, it ain’t. Beneath it all Rayner is dark and sonorous, like a Haden or Weber, able to make a rounded single note underwrite the band’s soarings, never more so than on the blues of ‘Swanage Bay’, which mixes memory, loss and love into a heady serenade. Occasionally the Arts Council gets it right, and this project fully deserves such support.’ - Andy Robson, Jazzwise