Stanley ‘Stan’ Montrose McDonald, Jr. (1935-2021) loved the music of Sidney Bechet, his wife Ellen, their historic semi-rural Massachusetts home and a hard-driving rhythm section pushing him. He was born and raised near Boston and spent most of his professional life and music career in or near Massachusetts.
Stan was a co-founder of the Boston-based New Black Eagle Jazz Band with Tony Pringle, Stan Vincent and Peter Bullis. It became the premier Traditional Jazz band from the 1970s forward, appearing in concerts across the country and on radio and television.
This article is based on a 2011 interview with McDonald and award-winning radio show, Visiting Stan McDonald. You’ll find appended to this article a trove of rare McDonald performances from the 1950s to the 1990s.
Origins and Inspirations
The touchstone of Stan’s music was Soprano saxophone giant Sidney Bechet, first and foremost. Emulating his repertoire and outlook, he became one of the foremost proponents of Bechet’s style, praising his:
“. . . broad, big, rich tone and vibrato, very innovative phrasing and that he’s unique in the way he handles a song. . . When he’s playing with another horn he knows just the right note to play and where to play it.
I came within an ace of meeting him in Paris,
