Cinematic

Album review

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/Qobuz