Zagranitsa

Welcome to ZAGRANITSA (Mystical Wonderland), the second in a projected trilogy of recent recordings -beginning with our previous album, Never Better, released in 2018, and culminating in a third album, which will be coming in 2020.

The central focus of this recording is music inspired by and performed during a concert tour that Q’d Up was fortunate to undertake to five Russian cities during fall of 2017. With the help and work of Artem Chirkov, one of Eric’s close bass colleagues in St. Petersburg, a two-week tour was organized to St. Petersburg, Kazan, Chboksary, Nizhny Novgorod, and Moscow, where Q’d Up performed at various concert halls, gave master classes, and enjoyed the sites. They were accompanied by BYU students Steven Hardy (saxophone) and Joseph Palmer (trumpet), who appear on this album. (In addition to Nelsen Campbell (trombone), another BYU student who did not come on the tour). This incredible experience resulted in the creation of four original tunes from the band: Eric‘s “Dosvedanya, Cheboksary“, Ron‘s “Swingin’ in Kazan,” Jay‘s “Rush Hour in Moscow“, and Steve‘s “Zagranitsa“, all featured on this album. Eight other tunes complete the album – several of which were also played on the tour, with recording sessions bookending our Russian journey.