Guitartist Deirdre Cartwright has been in the music business for the past thirty years and was one of the original members of the all-female jazz ensemble, The Guest Stars, whose album, Out at Night, recorded in 1985, is still one of my favourite bits of vinyl. With her roots in rock from a teenage desire to play like Jimmy Page, Deirdre Cartwright seemed to move easily into the jazz idiom not long after she had cracked the secrets of wild rock guitar. On stage with her at the Spin was Alison Raynor, another veteran from the Guest Stars and drummer, Butch Birt*.

Playing two sets of entirely original material, apart from an arrangement of Kate Bush?s Wuthering Heights, Cartwright showed what a mature and imaginative musician she is. One gets accustomed to spotting the licks and mannerisms of a player by the end of an evening but here is a guitarist who is able to fit her playing to fit the mood and needs of a melody rather than bending the tune to fit the musician. With a technique that obviously allows her an unusual breadth of approach each number had great individuality and freshness in the soloing. It was a delight to listen to a musician who could run the whole gamut from quiet lyricism as in Precious Things, in memory of her dead sister, through to rough wild rock/jazz in Smells Like Jazz, a homage to Miles Davis, a number which somehow ironically got the strongest applause as Cartwright out-fingered Jimmy Page.

The evening was augmented by vocalist Sarah P a singer with a refreshingly crisp enunciation and a forceful voice that was a great foil to Cartwright?s guitar. The last number of the evening, In the Bag, yet to be recorded, about the contents of an older woman?s bag was fiercely ironic. Meanwhile Alison Rayner?s work, particularly on acoustic bass was as sharp and inventive as in her early years. Deirdre Cartwright is not only a highly inventive musician but has a wonderfully relaxed conversational stage presence which undoubtedly helps put an audience at their ease.

? Paul Medley

*Buster Birch ? dc!

The Deirdre Cartwright group made a welcome return to Lichfield when their latest tour stopped of in the city. The four piece group played a selection from their own music and some well chosen cover versions.

Deirdre Cartwright is widely regarded as one of the best live jazz guitarists playing on the circuit, and her group of bass and drums allows her to use the full range of colours within her palette. The three piece started of with two new pieces from their latest album, with able support from double and fretless bassist Alison Rayner and drummer Buster Birch adding weighty support to the subtle guitar playing of the ensembles leader.

Singer and lyricist Sarah P was invited to play to songs with the group, the highlights of which were the haunting ballad ?Dust? which included atmospheric chords and bowed double bass, and the as yet unrecorded track ?In the Bag? which closed the show.

As well as Jazz, the band also played elements of rock. The first set closer was ?Smells like Jazz? which included quotes from Nirvana?s ?Smells like Teen Spirit? and the type of virtuoso electric guitar playing more often associated with such stars as Jeff Beck and Jimi Hendrix, with the full tilt rhythm section at times sounding a lot like Cream, Taste, and other power trios.

The second set was opened with a jazz reading of Kate Bush?s ?Wuthering Heights? which was started by a double bass refrain, before the familiar vocal refrain entered. Other songs played include the Deidre Cartwright?s gently swinging and lyrical ?Precious Things? and Alison Rayner?s ?String Theory? which gave soloing opportunities to all of the musicians.

The band played no encore, and eighty minutes of music would have left an audience feeling short-changed, if the group were not as good as this one.

Tigger23