LA-not too much music for the man…
Bassist Willy Lyle cuts and pastes 12 tunes together with a rotating team of Bob Sheppard/ts, Mahesh Balasooriya-Jon Mayer-Adam Hersh-Mikan Zlatkovich/p, Marvin “Smitty” Smith-Roy McCurdy-Anthony Fong/dr, Nikki Cambpel/con and Jacques Lesure/g on a collection of original and standards swingers. He delivers a nice solo on “You Stepped Out Of A Dream” and gears up with Lesure for a swinging duo of “It Ain’t Necessarily So” while his melody statement of “I Believe In You” has cred. With Sheppard’s tenor, the team is bold along with Balasooriya’s solo on “Forasteira” and the team gives a clever latin groove with Campbell and Fung on the clippety clopped “La Cumbia de MacArthur Park”. Strong on all fronts. Any local gigs coming up?
West Coast cool guitarist Doug MacDonald flies a few hours east for a recorded gig in Honolulu, HI with a swinging team of Noel Okimoto/vib, Dean Taba/b and Darryl Pellegrini/dr for a mix of standards and originals. The team digs in delightfully as MacDonald and Taba stretch out on a deeply dug take of “Lester Leaps In”, with Pellegrini adding snap to the finger popping “Blues In The Closet”. Vibes and guitar intertwine together on a pretty Latinized take of “Star Eyes” while Taba laying down a rich Brazilian current for “Cat City Samba” the sashaying “Bossa Don” and teaming with deft brush work on “Stranger In Paradise”. Puka shells of musical splendor tied together.