Donahue plays alto, sax, and flugelhorn on his new album- review

Sep 29, 2017

By: Jack Bowers

People who have an aversion to bugs (do you know any?) may hesitate to purchase (or even review) an album whose title epitomizes the very thing they abhor. But even though multi-instrumentalist Miles Donahue‘s new album does nod to that often-despised creature and even includes a song by that name, there is more to it than that; one might even say that Donahue removed the most of the “bugs” from the studio before he and his colleagues started recording.

One of the reasons that Donahue, who plays alto sax, trumpet and flugelhorn on The Bug, isn’t more widely known is that he chose to raise a family in his native New England rather than seek his fame and fortune in a wider arena, although he did spend time in Europe almost two decades ago before resuming a career in education with performance as a sideline. As this album marks his debut for Whaling City Sound, Donahue helped assure its merit by assembling a blue-ribbon supporting cast that includes guitarist Mike Stern, pianist Tim Ray and drummer Ralph Peterson. Going one step further, Donahue asked one of his college classmates if he would be able to make the gig, and Jerry Bergonzi said yes, he would. 

To read the full review, click here

To buy Miles Donahue’s new album, click here