Earl MacDonald

Associate Professor of Music, Director of Jazz Studies

(860) 486-0670
Earl.MacDonald@uconn.edu
Personal website: www.EarlMacDonald.com

Earl MacDonald lives jazz, as a performer, composer and educator. Director of jazz studies at the University of Connecticut, the Winnipeg native earned a bachelor of music degree in jazz performance at McGill University and a master of music degree at Rutgers, where he apprenticed with Kenny Barron. He is dedicated to music education, participating as a clinician, guest conductor and teacher at summer camps, in addition to his teaching at the University of Connecticut. The UConn Chapter of the American Association of University Professors honored MacDonald with its 2006 Excellence Award for Teaching Innovation. From 1998 to 2000, MacDonald was the musical director, pianist, and arranger for the Maynard Ferguson Big Bop Nouveau Band. As music director he was responsible for programming and rehearsing this world-renowned ensemble. In 2002, MacDonald won the Sammy Nestico Award, for outstanding big band arranging. In 2007, after his second year of participation in the BMI Jazz Composers' Workshop, he was selected as a finalist for the BMI / Charlie Parker Jazz Composition Award. He is a member of the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN). His compositions for 17-piece jazz ensemble are featured on the UConn Jazz CD, recorded by the University of Connecticut Jazz Ensemble. His sextet, the Earl MacDonald 6 won first place in the 2004 Hartford Advocate Reader's Poll for "best jazz group." Their debut recording, Echoes in the Night, has received critical acclaim.

Hear the Earl MacDonald 6

Dick Oatts, alto saxophone — Joe Magnarelli, trumpet — Steve Davis, trombone
Earl MacDonald, piano — Dave Santoro, double bass — Tom Melito, drums

Reviews

• "The debut CD of the Earl MacDonald 6, Echoes in the Night, is a classy recording with excellent ensemble playing, interesting arrangements, and well-crafted solos. The ensemble's conceptual approach to its music provides a strong unifying feature throughout the CD and makes for an interesting, as well as, enjoyable listening experience."   — Frank Bongiorno, Saxophone Journal, Sept. / Oct. 2006
• "Sea Breeze is a fine mainstream label that deserves recognition for putting out Echoes in the Night by the talented pianist Earl MacDonald and his new sextet. The music is nevertheless very ingratiating and delightful, if not startlingly original."   — Budd Kopman, allaboutjazz.com, August 2005
• "Jazz pianist, educator, and composer Earl MacDonald has assembled six extremely talented players, gifted in the art of expressing jazz with his current CD effort, 'Echoes in the Night.' The overall artistic contour of the disc is as smooth as it gets for the bebop idiom … All accented by unexpected counterpoint, and tons of interesting rhythmic variety. I sense an attempt by the group to create a hybrid jazz form. If I'm on the right track, I feel their pursuit is a worthy goal. Last, may I say that the group's extemporaneous musical expression of ideas, emotions, and their life experiences are exemplified quite well in the delivery of their total musical offering."   — George W. Carrol, JazzReview.com, March 2005
• "Jazz mainstreamers will find this music delightfully approachable…. Avant garde lovers will delight in the subtle way these players stray again and again from dyed-in-the-wool generic sounds."   — Paul Lewis, allaboutjazz.com, May 2005
• "The inspired solo work flows from the clever writing contained in Earl MacDonald's charts, and the smooth overall aspect of the music is both swinging and tuneful. Nice sounds with excellent solos and a hip rhythm section."   — Al Merritt, jazznow.com, November 2005
• "The sound of this sextet is unique and if they strived for originality, they achieved it with total success. 4 Stars."   — John Gilbert, ejazznews.com, March 2005
• "This group works a well-worn field but they do it with style and intelligence."   — Jerome Wilson, Cadence Magazine, The Review of Jazz & Blues: Creative Improvised Music, Vol. 31, No. 10. October 2005