| Jazz |
Doug MacDonald: Tribute to South Central – A Warm, Swinging Love Letter to Los Angeles’s Golden Jazz Avenue.
On Tribute to South Central, released on his own Dmac Music label, Doug MacDonald turns his gaze to a corner of Los Angeles that once vibrated with jazz, and he does it with a brand-new band, fresh ideas and a total absence of nostalgia for nostalgia’s sake. Eight tracks, under forty minutes, not a note wasted: this is a joy from beginning to end, and an easy “a must”, the highest mark on Paris-Move.
The story behind the album is as lovely as the music. In the late 1940s, Central Avenue in South Central Los Angeles was to the West Coast what 52nd Street was to New York: a hotbed of live jazz, with clubs along the avenue and the famous Dunbar Hotel as the place where the visiting stars hung out. Musicians like Buddy Collette, Charles Mingus and Dexter Gordon found a musical home there and helped to shape a distinct West Coast jazz identity.
By the time Doug MacDonald started playing in the area, years later, the golden age had passed, but the echoes had not. He performed at venues such as Marla’s Memory Land and at the Watts Towers, alongside artists like singer Ernie Andrews, organist Jack McDuff and actress Marla Gibbs. This album, recorded in the neighbourhood in the spring of 2025 (at Matai Studio in Los Angeles, on March 26 and April 1), is his way of saying thank you, and of listening again to what those rooms had to say. As he writes himself in the notes, he simply hopes the record “reflects on the echoes of that great time period”, and it does, without ever turning into a museum.
If you do not know Doug MacDonald yet, you are in for a treat. Born in Philadelphia, he began his career in Hawaii, playing with Trummy Young and Gabe Baltazar and at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel, then moved to Las Vegas, where the lounges and showrooms put him on the bandstand with jazz greats such as Joe Williams and Carl Fontana. Settled in Los Angeles in the 1980s, he played in the bands of Bill Holman, Ray Anthony and John Clayton and played and recorded with names like Rosemary Clooney, Ray Brown, Buddy Rich and Ray Charles. He has led more than thirty albums of his own, with settings as varied as solo guitar, trios, quartets, organ groups and a thirteen-piece ensemble, the Jazz Coalition, and he still plays hundreds of gigs a year, from Carnegie Hall and Mezzrow in New York to Chicago, Houston and across Europe.
Critics have long recognised the quality of his playing: a bop-rooted guitarist in the tradition of Herb Ellis, Barney Kessel and Joe Pass, with bell-clear sounds and a sure-footed sense of swing. He himself puts it more simply: he has never lost his love affair with warm notes, a good standard and the search for the best possible performance. That sentence could stand as the motto of this record.
What gives this album its freshness is the band. MacDonald chose musicians he had never recorded with before, and you would never guess it: they play with the ease and confidence of a working group. Trumpeter Wayne Cobham, who also plays flugelhorn and flugelbone, is a master of restraint. His tone is clear and lyrical, and when he climbs to the upper register and opens up, it cuts through everything and makes you stop what you are doing to listen. Richard Turner Jr., who also produced the album, is remarkably at home on acoustic piano, organ and electric piano, and even adds strings and percussion; his delicate piano on one track and his organ on another could almost be two different players. Del Atkins provides a supple, upbeat bass, Ronnie Kaufman drives the music on drums and percussion, and Eric McKain adds colour on percussion on five of the eight tracks. Ben Scholz is credited as co-producer. The result is a quintet that sometimes becomes a sextet, with enough room for each voice and an inviting rhythmic and harmonic frame in which the guitar can breathe.
The album mixes five MacDonald originals with three carefully chosen reinterpretations, and the programme is wonderfully varied: “Blues in the Desert” (6:07) opens the album as a blues with a shuffle, and sets the tone at once: a groove with earthy textures, Eric McKain’s playful percussion, Wayne Cobham’s rich horn and the guitarist’s clean, lightly animated lines. In this opener you can already hear how clear his tone is, with every note like a word chosen with care. “Mr. Walker” (5:05) is a soul-jazz take on Wes Montgomery’s tune, spirited and buoyant, with a bluesy swing and a warm organ conversation that gives the band space for spontaneous interplay. MacDonald, who never pushes, pays tribute to the great guitarist without trying to imitate him.
“Captain Bacardi” (4:25), by Antonio Carlos Jobim, brings an easy Brazilian lilt and a tropical flavour to the programme. It is a lovely change of scenery that keeps the album from settling into one lane, and it is carried by relaxed, infectious percussion. “Self Portrait” (5:35) is the only ballad, a feature for the guitarist based on Duke Ellington’s “Self Portrait of the Bean”, originally written to showcase tenor saxophonist Coleman Hawkins. Here MacDonald mixes picked single notes with strummed chords, the keyboards build a quietly orchestral backdrop and the brushed drums float on top. It is the warmest, most sedate side of his playing, and one of the loveliest moments of the album.
“GG” (4:29) is a medium-tempo romp in which the guitar is relaxed and direct, with clean notes that linger just long enough before the next thought arrives, joined by Cobham’s trumpet and Atkins’s upbeat bass. “Mine or Yours” (4:58) gives the ensemble a jazz waltz in which to stretch out. Cobham’s exploratory trumpet and Turner’s whimsical piano charm the ear, and the shift in rhythmic footing is just what the album needs at that point, while the melodic, straight-ahead sensibility of the leader never wavers. “Luces Azules” (4:16) is a swinging blues with a driving shuffle, the most muscular moment of the record and still played without ever raising its voice. “Sam-or-Eye” (4:45) closes the evening with a lyrical, sophisticated piece in which the notes roll off the guitar like a good story told by someone who knows the audience is listening. It is the perfect farewell, and you will probably want to start again from the first track.
The album was engineered by BR Millon, mixed by Talley Sherwood and mastered by Peter Doell, and the sound is natural and open: the band sounds great and makes the leader sound even better, with the clean, crystalline guitar tone that is his alone. At 39 minutes, it is concise and focused, with eight pieces that say what they have to say and stop. In an age of overlong albums, that alone is a pleasure.
But what makes this record special is its sense of place. Even if you have never heard of Central Avenue, you can feel the history in the music: the late-night club energy, the communal spirit, the openness of styles that defined the era in Los Angeles. MacDonald does not recreate the past; he treats the legacy of the avenue as an ongoing conversation, still capable of inspiring fresh ideas and emotion decades later. This is how jazz should be played: with warmth, clarity, humour and a deep respect for the tradition, by musicians who are in the moment. Tribute to South Central is a wonderful addition to the catalogue of one of Southern California’s most consistent and inventive jazz artists, and a record I recommend with real enthusiasm. A must.
Frankie Pfeiffer
Editor in chief – PARIS-MOVE
PARIS-MOVE, October 21st, 2026
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Tracklisting:
- Blues in the Desert 6:07
- Mr. Walker 5:05
- Captain Bacardi (Antonio Carlos Jobim) 4:25
- Self Portrait (Duke Ellington – “Self Portrait of the Bean”) 5:35
- GG 4:29
- Mine or Yours 4:58
- Luces Azules 4:16
- Sam-or-Eye 4:45
Total running time: 39:40
All compositions by Doug MacDonald unless noted.
Musicians:
Doug MacDonald – guitar
Wayne Cobham – trumpet, flugelhorn, flugelbone
Richard Turner, Jr. – electric piano, piano, organ, strings, percussion
Del Atkins – bass
Ronnie Kaufman – drums, percussion (tracks 4, 6, 8)
Eric McKain – percussion (tracks 1, 2, 3, 5, 7)
Credits:
Produced by Richard Turner, Jr.
Co-produced by Ben Scholz
Recorded at Matai Studio, Los Angeles, March 26 & April 1, 2025
Engineered by BR Millon
Mixed by Talley Sherwood
Mastered by Peter Doell
Artwork by Spencer Porter