Swann is a music educator in the Waco school system, and is also a member of the Temple Jazz Orchestra and the Waco Jazz Orchestra. Bassist Bill Pool, who teaches alongside Byron in the Waco school system, also plays a number of reed instruments, including anchoring the WJO’s saxophone section on baritone sax. Author/pianist Dave Wild provides most of the group’s original numbers. Wild, also a member of the TJO, plays solo piano and leads a trio in the Waco area, and is known as the author of a number of books, articles and liner notes about the legendary jazz saxophonist John Coltrane. SJQ’s propulsion is provided by drummer Terry Bell, a native of Marlin currently studying at Southwest Texas State University in San Marcos.

So what is conversational jazz? Simply put, it’s jazz that speaks to the listener without overpowering him, accessible jazz which does not forego the idiom’s depth and complexity, jazz which captivates without preventing those in earshot from talking to each other. SJQ explores the full range of modern jazz skillfully, inventively, and . . . conversationally.