Kyle Eastwood & Clint Eastwood – Eastwood Symphonic (2023) [Official Digital Download 24bit/48kHz]

Kyle Eastwood & Clint Eastwood – Eastwood Symphonic (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 01:15:01 minutes | 892 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Discograph

Eastwood Symphonic is a tribute from Kyle Eastwood to his father Clint Eastwood. It takes the form of a contemporary musical walk into the heart of the legendary actor-director’s extraordinary career. As a young man, Kyle Eastwood appeared in a few films made by his father, but what has united them above all else is their mutual passion for music. It is precisely that passion, so dear to Clint and such an everyday part of Kyle’s life today, which has bound their relationship so closely over the years. As bassist and frontman of a sparkling jazz quintet, he has already released one album, 2009’s Cinematic, that takes up themes written for the silver screen. For Eastwood Symphonic, which fully embraces some of the music that has figured so prominently in his father’s films, Kyle has chosen to have his quintet join by the Czech National Symphony Orchestra (CNSO) led by Grammy Award-winning conductor, Gast Waltzing. This family collaboration is a unique album that comes alongside a film produced by Arte.

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Kyle Eastwood – The View From Here (2013) [Official Digital Download 24bit/88,2kHz]

Kyle Eastwood – The View From Here (2013)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/88,2 kHz | Time – 01:12:01 minutes | 1,26 GB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Jazz Village

For his new album, the American bassist and composer embraces a musical heritage which goes back to the soundtrack of his youth, when he not only listened to Duke Ellington, Count Basie and Miles Davis, but went backstage at concerts with his father to meet all these great artists… Jazz is his passion, a passion which first flourished playing in the company of such masters as Ray Brown, Lennie Niehaus and Buell Neidlinger. Eastwood went on to produce a wonderful series of albums for the Candid label, whilst also composing music for several of his dad’s films including Letters from Iwo Jima and Gran Torino. Now that he has joined Jazz Village, he has affirmed his love for all things French by bringing his loyal band of eager young Brits to record at La Buissonne, one of France’s best modern studios. Dynamic, bursting with powerful grooves and innovative melodies, The View From Here reveals the eclectic music of a musician of his time, a band leader, a virtuoso and an exceptional composer, Kyle Eastwood.

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Kyle Eastwood – Timepieces (2015) [Official Digital Download 24bit/44,1kHz]

Kyle Eastwood – Timepieces (2015)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 01:15:42 minutes | 792 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Jazz Village

In the 17 years since the release of From There To Here, Kyle Eastwood’s first album as a leader, the multi-talented double bassist, composer and producer has forged a dynamic musical path. His artistry is eclectic, yet refined and transcends the boundaries of jazz by exploring an ever-widening range of musical influences. While continuing to develop his parallel career as a composer and arranger on his legendary father Clint’s Oscar nominated films “Mystic River,” “Million Dollar Baby” and “Letters from Iwo Jima,” Eastwood has reaffirmed traditions while creating truly contemporary, lyrical and melodic jazz. He has flirted with electro-jazz cool on Paris Blue (2004); delved into 70s-tinged “smooth jazz” accents and grooves on Now (2006); and gone “arty” urban chic on the subtly mixed Metropolitan (2009).

Eastwood’s latest release Time Pieces is all at once a fresh landmark in Eastwood’s discography and a culmination of a recent reassessment of his personal and artistic aesthetic that began with the release of Songs From the Chateau in 2011. The new phase of his career has involved a powerfully swinging, yet eminently sensual quintet of young English musicians: starting with Andrew McCormack (piano), Quentin Collins (trumpet and flugelhorn) and now including Brandon Allen (tenor and soprano sax) and Ernesto Simpson (drums). Eastwood brilliantly confirmed this new creative foundation on The View From Here (2013), often giving the impression of connecting with jazz archetypes while focusing on the pure joy of group interaction.

Time Pieces is a rich extension of this ongoing “transition,” a work infused with melodic elegance and a sustained sense of groove organized around the quintet’s often-collective compositions. It also features a thoughtful and sensual reading of Herbie Hancock’s “Dolphin Dance” and a dense, lightning fast romp through Horace Silver’s “Blowin’ The Blues Away” that reflect the bassist’s passion for lyrical hard bop. The collection launches with the infectious, spirited and funky “Caipirinha.” Following the Silver and Hancock re-imaginings, the band digs in with the lively and swinging “boogaloo” grooves of “Prosecco Smile,” then eases into the seductive melancholy of “Vista” and the freewheeling high energy “Peace of Silver,” fashioned as a tribute to the jazz piano legend who passed away during the recording of Time Pieces.

With its subtle marching beat and moody, sensual sway, “Incantation,” finds a direct heart line to the lyricism of Wayne Shorter. Eastwood finds new expression for one of his memorable film scores, “Letters From Iwo Jima,” which he follows with the hypnotic, meditative “Nostalgique” and the feisty, hard- swinging bebop explosion “Bullet Train.” Time Pieces wraps with the fun and freewheeling visit to the “Corner of 3rd and 6th Avenue,” while the album’s limited edition, four side LP version includes the gently bluesy, easy rolling Miles Davis tune “Pfrancing (No Blues).” The Miles track features a different American based ensemble: pianist Richard Germanson, trumpeter Alex Norris, tenor saxman Jason Rigby and drummer Joe Strasser.

“What I wanted to do in this record is pay my debt to jazz in the late 50s and early 60s, says Eastwood. “It was this lyrical hard bop, full of groove and sophisticated harmonies, exemplified by Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers when Lee Morgan and Wayne Shorter were in the group, Horace Silver’s Blue Note recordings and different quintets Miles had throughout the 60s. It’s the music that I like and that has never ceased to fascinate me since I discovered it as a teenager. What was amazing at the time was how all these groups had an immediately identifiable sound signature. I wondered where this singularity emerged from and I concluded that this was primarily the result of a collective work in the long run. It is this way of thinking and music making that I sought to reconnect with on this new album.”

Although Eastwood was deeply inspired by the sounds and group aesthetic of that rarefied time in jazz history, Time Pieces is a mature work that doesn’t borrow forms of the past superficially. Instead, it constantly manages to find a powerful balance between the more assertive hard bop at the turn of the 60s (in its relationship to the blues and in its orchestral potential) and a resolutely contemporary way to interpret this tradition. The bassist and his band bring their unique individual and collective experiences to the project, collectively drawing on the history of popular music and jazz to create a rich, diverse and contemporary experience that taps into everything from pop and rock to electro and the many forms of African-American music.

“This great ensemble I’m working with is designed like a true musical collective,” Eastwood adds. “I brought to the writing and recording sessions pieces of melodies and chord progressions, but most often the songs and their arrangements were crystallized in the studio during rehearsals. The association that I have with pianist Andrew McCormack and trumpeter Quentin Collins extends back almost 10 years now. It is a luxury to be able to develop a project on a long-term basis. That longevity is obviously reflected in the music we create. But if we’re the heart and soul of this quintet, the newer musicians’ ability to fit into our flow was equally important. Brandon Allen on saxophones and Ernesto Simpson on drums have truly enriched this album by opening our core sound to fresh and exciting new horizons.”

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Kyle Eastwood – In Transit (Bonus Track Version) (2017) [Official Digital Download 24bit/44,1kHz]

Kyle Eastwood – In Transit (Bonus Track Version) (2017)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 01:09:29 minutes | 790 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Jazz Village

Since From There To Here, his first disc as a leader released in 1998, Kyle Eastwood has had time to make a… well, a first name for himself. Taken to jazz concerts by his renowned father from an early age, the American bass player knows his classics (hard bop forever!) and has managed to make them his own and create his own musical language. Recorded in April 2017 at the Studio Sextant La Fonderie in Malakoff, France, by sound engineer Vincent Mahey, In Transit represents a straight continuation of his art. With true accomplices (pianist Andrew McCormack and trumpet player Quentin Collins have been there for almost twelve years, while saxophonist Brandon Allen, part of the quintet adventure since Timepieces, gives the impression of having been there since the beginning), Eastwood pens here a very mature disc, despite its apparent simplicity. Covers of standards (Count Basie’s (Blues In Hoss’ Flat, Charles Mingus’ Boogie Stop Shuffle), of less conventional pieces (Monk’s We See) and original compositions, the bass player makes here the decision to play music both personal and anonymous, current and timeless, spontaneous in its expression and in line with a certain jazz heritage. Invited on four tracks (among which the beautiful Love Theme from the movie Cinema Paradiso composed by Ennio Morricone), the great Italian saxophonist Stefano Di Battista enriches the sound of the formation with the incandescent lyricism of his generous style based on a complete physical and emotional involvement. A way for Kyle Eastwood to prove to skeptics that juggling with a jazz heritage like this and original compositions can give birth, time and again, to very lively music. Finally, with this disc of a rare elegance, we understand that it’s jazz itself that’s in transit. And ad vitam aeternam…

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Kyle Eastwood – Cinematic (2019) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Kyle Eastwood – Cinematic (2019)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:01:40 minutes | 1,31 GB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Discograph

Of course, with a name like Eastwood, the world of film is never very far away. It even takes a central role in Kyle Eastwood’s aptly named Cinematic. The American double bassist exclusively covers film music themes here (Taxi Driver, Bullitt, Charade, Skyfall, Down the Ancient Staircase, The Pink Panther, The Thomas Crown Affair), including three directed by his legendary father (Gran Torino, Unforgiven and The Eiger Sanction). These themes are all closely linked to composers of a high calibre (Lalo Schifrin, Ennio Morricone, Michel Legrand, Bernard Herrmann, Henry Mancini and even John Williams) and in some cases, have entered into the collective subconscious… Classy and classic, Eastwood’s refined approach is supported by his exacting tone. With help from the pianist Andrew McCormack, saxophonist Brandon Allen, trumpeter Quentin Collins, drummer Chris Higginbottom, and on two tracks, the voices of French singer Camille Bertault and Brit Hugh Coltman, Kyle Eastwood never tries to undermine the spirit of this music, but rather seeks to envelop them in velvety tones to further tie together their melodic power. Having composed several scores for his father (The Rookie, Mystic River, Million Dollar Baby, Letters from Iwo Jima, Flags of our Fathers, Changeling, Gran Torino, Invictus), he understands the evocative visual power of these pieces of music and makes sure never to overshadow this power with improvisations which are too busy.  – Clotilde Maréchal

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