With just bass and drums behind him, every line counts, and MacDonald sounds completely comfortable carrying the music.
Dmac Music
Doug MacDonald – Guitar; Lou Schoch – Bass, Vocals; Billy Paul – Drums
Doug MacDonald’s Live in Beverly Hills sounds like exactly what it is: a guitar trio on a good night, in front of a responsive crowd, with no reason to hold back. Recorded at the Beverly Hills Art Show in 2012 and released more than a decade later, the music moves fast, the rhythm section keeps the pressure on, and MacDonald plays like he knows the room is with him.
MacDonald has always made sense in this setting. Without a piano filling space, his guitar carries the melody, harmony, and much of the momentum. He picks cleanly, phrases clearly, and leaves room for the band to answer back. Lou Schoch’s bass and Billy Paul’s drums aren’t there to prop anything up—they keep the music moving, pushing and responding from start to finish.
You don’t expect the bass to introduce the melody on a tune this familiar, but that’s exactly what happens here. Schoch takes the lead up high, the guitar answers in short phrases, and only then does “Samba de Orfeo” settle into view. Rimshots snap underneath as the guitar takes over the line. When the drums stretch out, they do it loudly and with real excitement. MacDonald doesn’t wait politely on the sidelines—he bounces phrases off the drum hits, answering rhythms instead of riding them.
The trio stretches time most noticeably on “The Night Has a Thousand Eyes.” MacDonald opens alone, picking at the melody in a slow, searching way. When the tune comes into focus—the same song Bobby Vee made a hit in the early ’60s—the time stays loose. The guitar pulls phrases across the bar line, jumping freely between registers. It’s the longest track on the album, but it never overstays its welcome. Schoch’s bass solo relaxes the feel even further, lighter in attack and sitting back in the pocket, while Billy Paul’s rimshots and concise stick work keep the tune moving.
“Early in the Morning” shifts the focus, with Schoch taking the vocal on a hard-swinging blues shuffle. It works as a brief breather in the set, and the crowd’s audible reaction makes it clear the change landed in the room.
On “Yesterdays,” the brushwork and guitar stay in constant conversation. Paul keeps the pulse steady while slipping in and out of MacDonald’s phrasing, and MacDonald answers with clean lines that sometimes twist at the edges. Schoch’s bass solo follows the same logic, measured and exact, and the tune winds down quietly, with nothing forced at the ending.
What carries Live in Beverly Hills is MacDonald’s playing and the trio’s tight execution. He’s worked in big bands, quartets, and behind singers, but this stripped-down setting puts everything in the open. With just bass and drums behind him, every line counts, and MacDonald sounds completely comfortable carrying the music.
