For those not in the know, Sextet Session is a brand new album by Los Angeles guitarist Doug MacDonald. The album features original compositions by MacDonald in addition to a few choice Standards, and Doug also wrote the arrangements for the trumpet and tenor saxophone.

Doug MacDonald is a fine bop-based guitarist in the tradition of Herb Ellis, Barney Kessel, and Joe Pass. He was raised in Honolulu and started on guitar when he was 13, having briefly played trombone before. MacDonald moved to Los Angeles in 1984 after a year in Las Vegas and made a strong impression as a freelancer.

In 1990, he relocated to New York. Doug MacDonald has played with top musicians, including Stan Getz, Sarah Vaughan, Buddy Rich, Hank Jones, Bob Cooper, Bill Holman, Jack Sheldon, and many others, recording with Sheldon, the Clayton-Hamilton Orchestra, and as a leader for Cexton and Resurgent; one of the latter is a nonet album.

1. Desert Blues
2. Whispering
3. Gee’s Flat
4. You’ve Changed
5. AT #33
6. Try Ads
7. Si Miner
8. Bubbles in the Wine

This deliciously abundant, wholly impassioned new recording opens on the upbeat and joyous Desert Blues and then we get brought forth the Brazilian samba beat found driving Whispering, the luxurious Gee’s Flat (a malapropism, a play on words, like the key of Gb), and the melodic standard You’ve Changed.

Along next is the synthesizer and harmonizer-hued AT #33 which is in turn backed seamlessly by the all-encompassing Try Ads, and then comes the Spanish-tinged Si Miner (a C minor key in music as opposed to “see coal miner”), the album rounding out on a dutifully sculpted Bubbles in the Wine.

Musicians:
Guitar - Doug MacDonald, Tenor Sax - Doug Webb, Trumpet - Aaron Janik, Piano - Josh Nelson, Bass - Mike Gurrola, Drums - Charles Ruggerio

Doug MacDonald @ Instagram