Description
Label Review.
2017 album. Jazz Village.
Our Overview.
Capping two extraordinary decades as a recording and performing artist, Kyle Eastwood’s stylistically eclectic new album ‘In Transit’ reflects the whirlwind reality of the breakneck schedule that Kyle and his longtime ensemble keep as they perform three quarters of the year in Europe - with a yearly jaunt to Asian countries and occasional swings to the US. The Los Angeles bred, Paris based bassist and composer estimates that about half of the tracks were “road tested,” with a few rendered completely fresh in the studio. “That’s part of the concept, all the moving around and spending time on the road and working through our favorite material.” Just as on his previous two critically acclaimed collections, ‘The View From Here’ and ‘Time Pieces’, Kyle plays with a powerfully swinging yet beautifully soulful and sensual quintet of young English musicians.
The rhythmically intense, vibrantly re-imagined jazz classics on ‘In Transit’ - Count Basie’s ‘Blues In Hoss’ Flat’, Mingus’ ‘Boogie Stop Shuffle’ and Thelonious Monk’s ‘We See’ - create a wonderful dual sense for Kyle of coming full circle paying homage to his influences while bringing those traditions into a forward thinking contemporary context. Original compositions like the freewheeling funk-jazz hybrid ‘Rockin’ Ronnie’s’ (an homage to Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club, the band’s favourite London hotspot) and the brisk, high octane trip through a frenetic ‘Rush Hour’ highlight the compositional talents of each member individually and collectively. Other key tracks include the McCormack penned ‘Jarreau’- a whimsical romp that pays tribute to the late great Al Jarreau, which borrows some harmony lines and chord changes from the singer’s ‘Not Like This’ - and ‘Soulful Times’, a soaring and soul jazz piece that opens the collection and introduces the ensemble’s sense of easy swing, bright piano harmonies, dynamic horns and the infectious pocket grooves of Kyle and Chris Higginbottom.