If you live in So Cal and haven’t seen guitarist Doug MacDonald in a club, then you just aren’t hitting the spots, as he’s always somewhere jamming with fellow Angelenos. This latest album has him in the rare big band setting with an all star cast of Bill Cunliffe-Andy Langham/p, Cuck Berghofer/b, Pul Kreibich, a sax section including Kim Richmond/as and Rickey Woodard/ts, trombones featuring Ira Nepus and trumpets including Carl Saunders. The charts are clever and the playing is a gas.
The sections swing hard on the bookending “Toluca Lade Jazz” and “Ya Know Bill”, with the leader getting in some nice licks on both, while the pretty “Lux De Amor” has him delightfully team up with Cunliffe. Ford is soulful in a richly textured “But Not For Me” and goes Fabulous Flame on a funky “De Ha”. Saunders rides the shuffle of “Luces Azules” and Richmond gives a noir read on “Roshomon”. The horn sections are supreme, slinky on “Minor Mess” and bopping to “Desert Jazz”. A fingerpopper.