For the first time, bassist Kyle Eastwood was able to bring his “regular” working band from the other side of the pond to the states, presenting material mostly from his recent creative interpretation of movie themes from the album Cinematic. Eastwood’s love of silver screen soundtracks and vintage hard bop were perfectly melded during the 1 ½ hour set with his Blue Note bred team of Brandon Allen/ts-ss, Quentin Collins/tp-fh, Chris Higginbotham/dr and Andrew McCormick/p.
The band came out roaring like a lion to the hip blues shuffle of “Rockin’ Ronnie’s” (dedicated to the famed UK jazz club owner) with the rhythm section sounding like something from the world of Art Blakey, and the horn section long boarding the white caps. From there, Eastwood and company focused on giving tribute to film composers, with John Williams’ “The EIger Sanction” featuring Collins’ bold and beautiful horn not unlike vintage Freddie Hubbard for a fluffy flugelhorn, and McCormick bringing in some Hancock themes as the tune creatively faded away. The noirish “Taxi Driver” had Eastwood bowing out the moody theme, as Allen’s soprano captured the loneliness of the big city. In fact each song was creatively given little side routes and streets in which to stroll, such as Lalo Schifrin’s “Bullitt”, that had Higginbotham giving a back street boogaloo in high heel sneakers and Collins searing through the funk before the quintet turned into a snazzy trio and Eastwood digging deep into the bass strings.
Switching to electric bass, Eastwood teamed with McCormick and Allen’s soprano for a delicate and sensitive “Cinema Parasiso” that floated like a mist in Piazza Navona. From there, Allen went back to tenor and tapped into his inner Plas Johnson for a deeply grooved “Pink Panther” before the team galloped away and the horns traded fours like volleys in a jai alai court on “Sky Fall”, but not before the team went into a Impulse! modal mode that galloped to a Love Supreme climax.
Having seen Eastwood’s “American” bands in previous events, it was easy to see that this band from the UK and beyond is the one to want back over and over, as it reflected the Golden Era of both film and jazz like keepers of the flame, and everyone burned brightly.
Upcoming shows at Catalina’s include Akiko Tsuruga 09/24, Sinne Eeg & Josh Nelson 10/09, Dave Weckl & Tom Kennedy 10/13-15