L.A. Guitarist Doug MacDonald Releases New Trio Album

JGT contributor Joe Barth talks to L.A. guitarist Doug MacDonald about his new trio album, Live at the Rancho Mirage Library.

Constructing a set list or the sequence of songs for an album is something that has its unique challenges of fashioning proper pace and variety.  I asked Los Angeles guitarist Doug MacDonald what went into his thinking for Live at the Rancho Mirage Library, a wonderful new trio album by Doug and his Coachella Valley Trio. This is Doug’s long-standing trio with bassist Larry Holloway and drummer Tim Pleasant.  On this recording, their friend Big Black joins them on djembe.  For this recording, Doug has selected a number of his favorite standards. I wanted to ask Doug what draws him to a particular song to record it for an album like this.

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JB:  These are all great songs.  I want to ask you what it is about these particular songs that prompted you to record them on this album.

“It’s A Blue World”

DM:  We have recorded these many times. The Four Freshmen did it as a ballad. I’ve always liked it as a medium up-tempo swing.  It is not overly complicated harmonically.  The melody is a lot of half and whole notes so it works at either a slow or fast pace.  It is one of the tunes that is not overdone in the jazz idiom.

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JB:  You have a couple of Tadd Dameron tunes.  Tell us about “Lady Bird.”

DM:  It’s a great vehicle for improvisation. It has great chord changes, an interesting melody and it is so nice to play on a sixteen-bar form. We are treating it with a Latin flavor as opposed to the original version that was done in the bebop swing style.  Compared to other songs from this era you don’t hear this played as often as other pieces from that time.  It seems to fit the guitar trio/quartet very well.

JB:  Kenny Burrell wrote “Chitlins Con Carne” for his 1963 Midnight Blue album.

DM: Yes, it’s a great blues with a funky 8th note feel.  Big Black adds a lot to the groove with his African percussion instrument. It is a great example of the type of beats that jazz cats were recording back in the 1960s.  It frames the old with the new. This one is always a crowd-pleaser.

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JB:  “If You Could See Me Now”

DM:  Back to Tadd Dameron, one of the more melodic jazz composers from many years ago. I remember hanging out with Sarah Vaughn and hearing her sing this with such an inventive style. Wes Montgomery also had a great approach to this tune. We always strive to put our own stamp on these ballads. They are so much an important part of the jazz repertoire. Many players do not achieve the balance needed between the emotional and technical demands within ballad playing. 

JB:  “Spanish Eyes,” a big hit for Al Martino and Engelbert Humperdinck.

 DM:  Very much a commercial tune. We did a bit of reharmonizing on the chord changes, also the tempo is a fast swing which is very different from the original dance band’s slower Latin rhythm approach. Once again, we pick tunes that you don’t normally hear in the jazz world.

JB:  I always love “Triste.”

DM:  Great song by Antonio Carlos Jobim. It means sad but it really is a happy piece.  You hear this done a lot by jazz players, but we do it in the original key of “A” which has a nice flavor on the guitar. I love the contrast from major to minor in the tune; it sounds so fresh and modern. It has such a great melody and clever chord changes!

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JB:  Brother Jack made famous “Our Miss Brooks” 

DM:  Great blues from the Jack McDuff organ group. Written by saxophone player Harold Vick. Our arrangement is much simpler than that of the original. I decided to just keep the main melody of the song.  This one was picked because it has such a succinct blues flavor, also it is very rarely heard these days.

JB:  I always think of the movie version of Fred Astaire in his white tux singing Jerome Kern’s “Dearly Beloved.”

DM:  Here it’s a great song to play at this fast tempo. It leads itself to chord melody and single-string crazy soloing. It sounds like a jazz composition with the use of pedal bass notes against the harmony. I feel it really lays well on the guitar.

JB:  “Fascinating Rhythm”…

DM:  You can never go wrong with George Gershwin. His tunes are so rich with harmony and melody. As the title suggests the piece has a challenging syncopation in the phrasing, especially being from the swing era. It is unlike any other of his compositions… quite timeless.

JB:  Then you close with “A Little Tutu” from “Sweets” and Zoot’s 1980 album Just Friends with that burnin’ piano solo by Roger Kellaway.

DM:  Another twelve-bar blues. The only place you will find this one is on an album by trumpeter “Sweets” Edison and saxophonist Zoot Sims. Very rare of course that is why we choose certain tunes. This is our closer which acts as a chaser and a final statement. 

JB:  Doug, thank you for letting us look into your thinking in selecting songs for the Live at the Rancho Mirage Library concert and album.

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