Kyle Eastwood: In Transit

There is energy a-plenty and fresh yet classic-sounding jazz in this latest album from bassist Kyle Eastwood’s muscular quintet – appropriately hard-travelling music from musicians well fused from a relentless touring schedule.

Take, for instance, Rush Hour, with Quentin Collins’s zesty trumpet break, Brandon Allen’s tenor sax hard on his heels, with the rhythm section of pianist Andrew Mccormack, Chris Higginbottom on drums and, of course, Eastwood’s lithe acoustic and electric bass work powering it all.

Things open with Soulful Times ,and by the time they deliver Thelonious

Monk’s We See and the subsequent group jam of Rockin’ Ronnie’s, both ensemble and solo playing are jubilantly pyrotechnic. Stefano Di Battista guests on soprano sax in the elegant Cinema Paradiso, with its tender fretless bass introduction from Eastwood – himself no stranger to film music through composing for his jazz-loving father. As this album demonstrates, however, Kyle emerged from Clint’s shadow a long time ago. ■