Kyle Eastwood Band

Assembly Hall, Edinburgh

Thekyleeastwoodband’scurrent album is called In Transit and, yes, they can certainly shift, which became clear as the quintet kicked off a superbly tight set with a no-nonsense treatment of Adele’s Skyfall theme,withcrispunisonhorns launching trumpeter Quentin Collins into full flight, Andrew Mccormack’spianoinhotpursuit, while Eastwood’s double bass thrummed.

The cinematic aspect would recur: the band have an album of film scores due out in the autumn and Eastwood, as son of Clint, is no stranger to composing for screen. However the cheer that greeted his announcement of an Ennio Morricone theme proved misplaced: no spaghetti western music emerged but a loving treatment of Cinema Paradiso, Eastwood spelling it out gently on bass guitar before Brandon Allen took it up on clarinet.

The reedy calling of Allen’s clarinet also contributed to the atmospheric Marrakesh, Eastwood setting the vibe with echoing, bowed double bass. There was a gospel-informed swagger to Soulful Times, while the tempo accelerated for The Swamp, bass guitar and Andrew Mccormack’s piano working up a hypnotic pulse as tenor sax and trumpet took well-wrought solos and Eastwood sparred energetically

with Chris Higginbottom’s drums.

This high energy was maintained in the beefy swing of Rockin’ Ronnie’s, a showcase for Collins, before Eastwood sounded a resonant double bass prelude to Charles Mingus’s classic Boogie Stop Shuffle, the horns taking up its urgent hook and the band running with it with verve and style.

JIM GILCHRIST