Doug MacDonald (guitar);
Larry Holloway (bass); Tim Pleasant (drums) + Big Black (djembe - tracks 3,6,7,8,9,10)
(Review by JC)
From the first
notes of the first track on this album the listener knows they are in the hands
of a highly proficient and experienced guitarist. The warm tone and gentle
insistence of the music sends out a nice relaxing vibe that continues
throughout the eleven tracks.
The guitarist, Doug
MacDonald, has made numerous albums over the years in a variety of big and
small group ensembles and played with a wide range of fine musicians. Here he
is in a trio format and with a guest player Big Black on djembe (a type of
skin-covered drum played with the hands, originally from West Africa - if
you're wondering) on selected tracks. Four of the pieces are composed by
MacDonald, two in samba/bossa nova style that maintain the laid-back feel of
the playing. The other seven are standards some of which give MacDonald the
opportunity to stretch out and play with a more attacking style.
Give Me The Simple Life is full of lively, rippling runs, while Dizzy Gillespie and
Co.'s Woody 'N You has a nice tight
bebop sound. I particularly liked the final track The Way You Look Tonight with some fast soloing and good chordal
work.
Larry Holloway on
bass and Tim Pleasant on drums provide a strong platform for MacDonald's guitar
and Big Black's djembe adds depth to the mix but might perhaps have been given
a bit more chance to solo.
However, I must
mention that the founder and editor-in-chief of BSH is getting even more
musical recognition as clearly one of MacDonald's
original compositions, Lance or Lot
can only be about one person!
JC
My Shining Hour, Lance or Lot, Cat City Samba, Tram
Jam, What's New, Give Me The Simple Life, Stranger in Paradise, I Hadn't Anyone
Till You, Woody 'N You, Bossa Nueva, The Way You Look Tonight.
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