The Jay Rayner Quartet

The renowned restaurant critic, Masterchef judge and presenter of BBC Radio 4’s The Kitchen Cabinet has one other skill. He’s also a jazz pianist.

Restaurant critic Jay Rayner, undoubtedly the best jazz pianist in Britain of all the judges on MasterChef, leads an ensemble of top flight musicians through a compelling and vivid night of the very best of song-writing and jazz. Expect blistering performances of iconic tunes from jazz greats like Herbie Hancock, Horace Silver and Dexter Gordon, through to song-writing legends including Tom Waits, Leonard Cohen and Joan Armatrading. All of this comes liberally seasoned with extraordinary, often outrageous, sometimes filthy stories from Jay’s life in the worlds of food and journalism. He may also rant about chefs serving food on slates. Jay really hates food served on slates. Since forming the Jay Rayner Quartet in 2012, the band have played some of the most prestigious music venues in Britain, including Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club, King’s Place and Snape Maltings. They’ve performed live on BBC Radio 3, been supported by Will Young (kind of; he played after them) and have made a point, while on tour, of eating better than any other jazz ensemble in the UK, courtesy of Jay encouraging top restaurants to send their best dishes backstage ahead of the show. A night spent with the Jay Rayner Quartet promises great music, killer stories and often quite inappropriate laughter. With the bassist Robert Rickenberg, saxophonist Dave Lewis and singer Pat Gordon-Smith.