Doug MacDonald is an unpretentious guitarist whose foreground and background playing deliver equal doses of "beautiful, bell-clear sounds and a sure-footed sense of swing" (Zan Stewart, jazz journalist).
Doug's trio/quartet CD, "Gentle Rain" on Sea Breeze Records, has received airplay on jazz stations around the world and is currently on the jazz charts.
In his eighth recording, TURN, on Sea Breeze Jazz, MacDonald focuses on his composing/arranging skills and introduces non-traditional instrumentation in the form of a 13-piece ensemble, "The Jazz Winds/Brass Coalition," to showcase his and other writers' music.
A longtime Los Angeles-based guitarist, MacDonald was born in Philadelphia and raised in Honolulu. He left the island paradise for the mainland's music opportunities in 1982, creating a "portable" career for himself mostly on the West Coast, but also in New York and occasionally Las Vegas. He has been "flexible," he says, accounting for a steady schedule of what often evades even the most talented and/or seasoned player, especially in jazz circles-work!
In recent years, Doug MacDonald has become one of the most respected-and busiest-guitarists in Southern California. …at his best in a straight-ahead jazz context…a lyrical guitarist who plays in a relaxed, easy swinging manner…also can burn…(Orange County Register)
As a sideman on both coasts and some stops elsewhere, his live performances are in the hundreds, with: Stan Getz, George Shearing, Joe Williams, Sarah Vaughan, Ray Brown, Buddy Rich, Dave McKenna, Scott Hamilton, Richard Groove Holmes, Jack McDuff, Bobby Vinton, Ray Charles and Rosemary Clooney, plus fellow guitarists Joe Pass and Herb Ellis. He has recorded with Hank Jones, Jack Sheldon, Bob Cooper, Snooky Young, Bill Holman, the Clayton/Hamilton Jazz Orchestra, Lorez Alexandria and Ray Anthony/, among others.
http://www.myspace.com/dougmacdonald