DOUG MACDONALD DUO - Toluca Lake Jazz
Doug MacDonald Music: DM 18
Doug MacDonald (guitar) Harvey Newmark (bass) Recorded at Tritone Recording, Glendale, Calif. USA , no date given.
Toluca Lake is a posh superb of Los Angeles where I imagine people live high on the hog and, like their poolside Martinis and Piña Coladas, prefer music that is smooth and palatable but pleasantly potent. When it comes to hitting the spot West Coast jazz vets, MacDonald and Newmark are time served mixologists whose long professional association as premier league session men equip them to produce the perfect soundtrack to the good life.
In a programme of songbook favourites like `Flamingo` and `Easy Living` combined with several originals like the `Cherokee` based title track, they blend perfectly to create a selection of swinging jazz and melodic improvisation that is both soothing and stimulating with inventive arrangements and chummy interplay that gives full reign to their considerable capabilities. Like the first G&T of the day, one is never enough and when the final bars of this well-crafted music fade away you’ll be sure to be reaching for the repeat and calling `one more time! `
Reviewed by Euan Dixon
Doug MacDonald Music: DM 18
Doug MacDonald (guitar) Harvey Newmark (bass) Recorded at Tritone Recording, Glendale, Calif. USA , no date given.
Toluca Lake is a posh superb of Los Angeles where I imagine people live high on the hog and, like their poolside Martinis and Piña Coladas, prefer music that is smooth and palatable but pleasantly potent. When it comes to hitting the spot West Coast jazz vets, MacDonald and Newmark are time served mixologists whose long professional association as premier league session men equip them to produce the perfect soundtrack to the good life.
In a programme of songbook favourites like `Flamingo` and `Easy Living` combined with several originals like the `Cherokee` based title track, they blend perfectly to create a selection of swinging jazz and melodic improvisation that is both soothing and stimulating with inventive arrangements and chummy interplay that gives full reign to their considerable capabilities. Like the first G&T of the day, one is never enough and when the final bars of this well-crafted music fade away you’ll be sure to be reaching for the repeat and calling `one more time! `
Reviewed by Euan Dixon
