Music — Kevin McDonald

I can play (with varying degrees of skill) guitar, bass, mandolin, trumpet, and piano. I also dabble in recording and production. However, by withholding any such recordings I allow you to imagine that I am more proficient than I am.

Record Collecting

I have several hundred records across a variety of genres. These are a few highlights and personal favorites from a day in May 2021 when I felt like taking pictures of records for some reason.

Lee Morgan - Cornbread (Blue Note Tone Poet Series)

This is a great jazz album with a classic lineup, and one of the best sounding records in my collection

Miles Davis - Miles Smiles (Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs Reissue)

This is my favorite release from the Second Great Quintet, and one of my favorite Miles Davis albums overall. Footprints has been a personal favorite ever since I played it back in high school. This 45 rpm edition from Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs sounds particularly full and lively.

The Comet is Coming - Death to the Planet

Afro-futuristic psychedelic space jazz. Start Running.

Fleet Foxes - Shore

This album is on my shortlist for my favorites of 2020. Helplessness Blues is easily my favorite Fleet Foxes album, but this is the only record of theirs I have.

The Strokes - A New Abnormal

I knew I had to have this record the moment I saw the incredible music video for At the Door. The album is packed full of great songs, and is my most played record of the past year.

I currently use a Music Hall USB-1 turntable (which I hope to upgrade soon) with an Ortofon Super OM10 cartridge. I currently use a pair of vintage Altec Lansing 887A Capri speakers with a Boston Acoustic PV500 subwoofer. With the turntable I use a vintage Kenwood KR-5030 receiver. Everything else is routed through a Denon AVR2809CI receiver. I have a JVC TD-X301 stereo cassette deck, and self-host my vast CD and digital music collection on a custom built (by me), self-hosted Plex server as meticulously organized FLAC files.

Concerts

Going through my past photos when I was updating this website made me realize three things: 1) I need to take more pictures of all the concerts I attend, 2) a lot of concerts I was eager to attend were canceled due to the pandemic, and 3) it feels like almost all the concerts I go to are at the same venue. I guess that’s what happens when one has a taste for jazz fusion. At least the tickets are cheap!

Boston Pops @ Symphony Hall - December 2018

Bill Laurance @ Berklee’s Red Room - September 2018

Me with Bill Laurance

Solo piano and synthesizers

An incredibly hasty photo of David Crosby (who happened to be in the audience)

Check out a track at Bill’s YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3WBuQoGtsc

House of Waters @ Berklee’s Red Room - September 2018

Check out a track at the label’s YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLre2FIvlUQ

Bill Laurance Trio @ Berklee’s Red Room - February 2017

Check out a track at the label’s YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CDdcLdxlms

GoGo Penguin @ Berklee’s Red Room - April 2016

Check out a track on the band’s YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLoc8wbTV3g