 He has played with Tim Berne, Nels Cline, Drew Gress, Mark Helias, Fred Hersch, Tony Malaby, Simon Nabatov, Tom Varner, and Kenny Werner.Rainey worked with Berne in the 1990s and 2000s in the bands Big Satan, Hard Cell, Paraphrase, and Science Friction.After thirty years as a sideman, he released his first album, "Pool School" (Clean Feed, 2010) in a trio with guitarist Mary Halvorson and saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock.