Deirdre Cartwright is an award-winning guitarist and composer who became well
known presenting the BBC TVs ground-breaking series Rockschool. She played with
Afro Latin Jazz group The Guest Stars, recording three albums and toured in 17
countries. She plays regularly at Ronnie Scotts in Soho and as a guest artist in UK jazz
clubs. She also leads the group PICNIC with Annie Whitehead.
In 1991 she formed the Deirdre Cartwright Group which recorded five albums and
played international festivals from Mexico to Warsaw. She played memorable gigs with
legendary guitarist Tal Farlow at the Pizza Express Soho, studied in America with Mick
Goodrick, toured with Jamaican composer and director of the National Dance Theatre
Company Marjorie Whylie, founded Blow the Fuse with Alison Rayner in 1989, and
presented on Radio 3.
She has also written seven books on guitar playing, was head of the guitar syllabus for
the Rockschool exam series, and presented her own radio show on Jazz London Radio.
More recently she has toured and recorded three albums with ARQ who won Best UK
Jazz Group in the Parliamentary Jazz Awards and British Jazz Awards in 2018. She won
the public vote for Best Guitarist at the 2019 British Jazz Awards and in 2020 was
awarded Services to Jazz with Blow the Fuse at the Parliamentary Jazz Awards.
"If there is a more complete guitarist in contemporary music than Deirdre Cartwright Id like to know who it is"
Dave Gelly, The Observer.
