JAZZ ALBUM REVIEWS : MacDonald Makes a Date With Romance : ***1/2 THE DOUG MACDONALD TRIO, “The Doug MacDonald Trio”, <i> Cexton Records</i>

We don’t see as much of one-time L.A. resident Doug MacDonald now that he’s moved to New York. That’s why the guitarist’s second release from Santa Ana’s Cexton Records is so welcome.

His first, a wonderfully clean and sophisticated quartet date, included pianist Ross Tompkins along with bassist Ray Brown and drummer Jake Hanna. The new trio album, minus the chordal support of a keyboardist, places MacDonald more squarely in the rhythm section, and he responds with virtuosity and feeling.

The romantic, often swinging date places an emphasis on standards that deal with matters of the heart (including the overexposed “Unforgettable”). MacDonald explores each number with a relaxed familiarity, balancing long lines of assured dialogue with solid chordal constructions standing directly on the beat. His solo medley of “Everytime We Say Goodbye” and “It Never Entered My Mind” is particularly rich and intimate.

Bassist Richard Simon and drummer Nick Martinis, although not of the star power of Brown and former “Tonight Show” orchestra pianist Tompkins, make smart contributions nonetheless. Simon (seen locally in Buddy Collette’s chamber-jazz dates) brings the swing to “Comin’ Home Baby,” the recording’s most upbeat number. Martinis provides electric moments on the same tune with occasional double-times sizzles from his ride cymbal. Throughout, the drummer offers assured yet modest timekeeping, playing with extreme subtlety during MacDonald’s more delicate moments. This candle-lit affair is sure to keep the home fires burning.

*** TOM KUBIS BIG BAND, “At Last”, Cexton Records

Of all the big bands on the Southern California scene, Tom Kubis’ is the most bouncy, the most playful, the most fun . The reason? Mostly, it’s Kubis’ composing-arranging skills, his way of teasing and tickling even the most worn standards into a smile. You can see why college bands all like his charts--there are plenty of shifts in pitch, rhythm and personality, the kinds of things that require strict attention.

Kubis’ other great talent is putting together top-notch bands, and this disc is full of outstanding improvisational efforts as well as tight, tasty ensemble play that keeps the good times rolling. Sure, the orchestrations are pretty traditional, and the rhythms offer predictable accessibility, but when they’re played with strength and precision, who cares?

Check out what the band does on the title tune beneath Jack Sheldon’s vocal as it lifts and separates the singer’s bodacious phrasing.

The liveliest piece here is “Bill Bailey,” Kubis’ unabashed nod to Dixieland, his first musical love and the style of his earliest professional experience--not to mention the source of his fun-loving ways (Kubis’ other band is the classic-jazz ensemble Swing Savant). “Bailey” moves from Jack Reidling’s swirling piano line through hard-swinging brass passages that encircle some Basin Street stomp powered by the trombone of Conrad JanisC.

Kubis follows up with “The Star-Spangled Banner,” featuring his own soprano saxophone. But rather than predictably running up the flag, he takes a poignant, melancholy stance with spare rhythm-section accompaniment and somber backing from the horns--no laughs here.

Vocalist Leslie Lewis also adds some serious moments with her smoky tear-jerker, “How About Me.” But for the most part, “At Last” is a rollicking good time right down to its closer, an appropriately swaggering “Police Squad Theme.”