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Welcome to Never Better, the fifth Q’d Up album. We hope you enjoy the music and find it stimulating, thought provoking, and entertaining. Thank you for listening!
Q’d Up comprises five restless, creative, and always-searching instrumentalists, arrangers, and composers. We are constantly learning new material from the pen of band members Jay Lawrence, Steve Lindeman, and Ron Saltmarsh (sometimes in collaboration) and devising new arrangements of various jazz standards and re-imaginings of more current repertoire. And because we’ve had the blessing of accessing the world-class LDS Motion Picture Studio (piloted by the masterful engineer Michael Chadbourne) as well as band member Ray Smith‘s Studio 10 (engineered by BYU’s lead music recording engineer, Jeff Carter), we’ve consistently been able to record our new works. This has led to an almost “embarrassment of riches,” with enough material recorded for -at this writing- more than three hours of music.
We have also experienced a change this past year as Ron Brough, one of our founding members, left the band to prepare for retirement. Ron Saltmarsh came on board with his guitars of all stripes and types. He brings a fresh sound, presence, and perspective. While we miss Ron Brough profoundly, his presence is felt and heard all over this CD.
This record is, indeed, Never Better – largely because of the appearance of several amazing musicians, good friends, and colleagues, including Wycliffe Gordon on trombone, Corey Christiansen on guitar, Matt Larson on electric bass, Monte Belknap on violin and Kurt Reeder on a Hammond A-100 (like a B3) organ. Reflecting on the collaborative nature of our group, each member has contributed something to each arrangement and liner notes. So sit back and enjoy the musical journey.
