Sound Bites
Sound Bites from artists playing a Buscarino guitar
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Doug MacDonald is an unpretentious guitarist whose foreground and background playing deliver equal doses of "beautiful, bell-clear sounds and a sure-footed sense of swing" (Zan Stewart, jazz journalist). That's the nutshell version from a writer known for his economical way of saying a lot.
In his eighth recording, TURN, on Sea Breeze Jazz, MacDonald focuses on his composing/arranging skills and introduces non-traditional instrumentation in the form of a 13-piece ensemble, "The Jazz Winds/Brass Coalition," to showcase his and other writers' music.
This bigger-band work was the next natural step for the veteran player's growth, culminating years of composition studies about which he has become increasingly passionate. In his own liner notes, he refers to the CD repertoire as an effort to "create a body of work that explores a wide spectrum of colors and forms," explaining that "while there exists jazz swing on certain tracks, other pieces travel from tonal to atonal sections with Latin and/or eighth note rhythms-an adventure where the listener will discover new 'turns' of musical form and expression," thus the title tune.
Jazz journalist Jim Santella, in reviewing the CD, calls the title tune "a journey through Jazz's history and toward its future development," adding: "Without growth, anything would become commonplace and ordinary. Doug ensures that jazz has a place to turn to that allows for change without sacrificing tradition." Likewise, critic/columnist Harvey Barkan says that MacDonald "has opened a new window for fresh ideas with an irresistible effervescent feel of swing."
Previous to the 13-piece band, MacDonald fronted and recorded a nine-piece brass and rhythm assembly of several of the same members of this new group. Called Warm Valley (Resurgent Music RM111), it featured arrangements by trumpeter Buddy Childers, Lou Forestieri and Jimmie Dykes, who shares the composing/arranging spotlight with MacDonald on "Turn."
And so it has gone over the years. Increasing the numbers in his performance groups and augmenting the instrumentation and sounds have become the trademark MacDonald way of climbing the jazz ladder- from soloist to trio leader to writer and front man on today's impressive non-traditional combo of masterful players, a jazz/classical hybrid big band that swings.
A longtime Los Angeles-based guitarist, MacDonald was born in Philadelphia and raised in Honolulu. He left the island paradise for the mainland's music opportunities in 1982, creating a "portable" career for himself mostly on the West Coast, but also in New York and occasionally Las Vegas. He has been "flexible," he says, accounting for a steady schedule of what often evades even the most talented and/or seasoned player, especially in jazz circles-work! |
