Kyle Eastwood
(bass); Andrew McCormack (piano); Quentin Collins (trumpet); Brandon Allen
(tenor sax); Chris Higginbottom (drums) + Stefano di Batista (saxes); Camille Bertault, Hugh Coltman (vocals).
(Review by Hugh C)
Kyle Eastwood (yes, cinematic relation) brings together his two great
passions, cinema and music, with his new album Cinematic. He performs with his regular bandmates
and singers Camille Bertault and Hugh Coltman.
In this album both well-known and lesser known film scores are revisited
and reinterpreted in a jazz style.
CD player loaded, remote cocked and ready, GO! The CD fires off with Bullitt. Piano and trumpet open with a discordant
blast, followed by a funky rendition of the familiar tune. Short bass and drum solos punctuate the
confident delivery by these capable musicians. A brief pause, the tyre smoke
clears and Taxi Driver – Theme, follows on at a more leisurely
pace. Atmospheric saxophony sets the scene followed by muted
trumpet over a slow groove generated by the rhythm section.
Les Moulins de Mon Coeur features
chantoose (as they say over there) Camille Bertault with a smoky-voiced
delivery of the iconic song. The guys
get a look in too, with saxophone and trumpet solos alternating with Bertault’s
vocals and scat singing. The Eiger
Sanction is a high speed romp featuring piano, saxophone and trumpet driven
at speed by the rhythm section. Gran
Torino, composed by father and son Eastwood, Michael Stevens and Jamie
Cullum features Hugh Coltman on vocals.
Pink Panther – Theme, beloved of
amateur bands everywhere, is given a classy outing by the guys who give it
their own twist. Per le Antiche Scale
features expressive, melodic slow
piano, bass and drums and at just over 3 minutes is the shortest track on the
album. Charade sets off with
militaristic style drumming to be joined by saxophone and trumpet delivering
the melody with chordal piano in the background. Trumpet, saxophone and bass
solos follow, with subtle support from the rhythm section. Unforgiven - Claudia’s Theme features
guitar (not credited), but possibly Eastwood on upper registers of electric
bass. Collins delivers an atmospheric
trumpet line over piano and bass, to finish with solo guitar.
Skyfall brings the entire ensemble
back together for a jazzy rendition of the theme - all the band members get a
look in, with short solos from each in turn.
In the final minute Higginbottom is allowed to stretch out a bit on drums. Gran Torino is a reprise without the
vocals and to my mind probably the better version (not to diss the original of
course!). Eastwood takes the melody line
on double bass, ably supported by unobtrusive piano and subtle brushwork on
drums. The melody is then taken by
saxophone and brought to a conclusion by a saxophone and bass duet.
The potential problem with a release of this type is that it will fall
between two stools, film music and jazz. The Jazz Police will be all over this and
will apprehend the “perp” for questioning.
A shame, because the musically open listener will find this a
delight. The musicianship is exemplary
and the product is musically interesting, even though I did not recognise many
of the tunes (I am no film buff). The
love that has been put into this project by Eastwood is palpable.
Cinematic is released on November 8 on Jazz Village and
is available for pre-order from several online retailers.
Hugh C
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