Kyle Eastwood Band
Eastwood’s band brought some real punch to the Friday evening of the Scarborough Festival. This is a tight band, led – rather than simply underpinned – by Eastwood’s bass with strong echoes of some of the best jazz funk and fusion, as well as the spiritual jazz of the late 1970s, maybe even some Wayne Shorter eccentricity. There’s lots of electric piano from Andrew McCormack, dramatic and diverse drumming from Martyn Kaine, and some great horn parts played by the two Graemes: Flowers on trumpet and Blevins on saxophones.
Eastwood mainly plays electric bass, where he take the leader’s position centre stage, and he’s up high in the mix. In fact the whole sound was different with this band: louder, fuller, more ‘electric’ even when most of the instruments are acoustic. Some of the reverb on the horns rather overpowered the player’s ideas, there were times when I felt I’d gone back to 1976. The unison horn work, though, always worked well.
There’s a real variety to the set, although McCormack’s propulsive drumming is the real driver in most numbers, giving Eastwood the opportunity to take a funkier and more exploratory role than most bass players are allowed. It’s always good to be your own boss, especially when you want to play a bass solo. However, this is a real band, with good interplay and support for all players.
Eastwood is enough of a showman to make the concert visually interesting without ever detracting from thoughtful music-making. I was impressed by his willingness to take some of his film soundtrack compositions and turn them into concert pieces. They were certainly strong on texture, even when they lacked emotional depth that they index in their instrumentation or performance style.
There’s always a problem, though, with trying to mine a musical vein that’s been explored in depth, especially when it’s Herbie Hancock’s Headhunter’s that’s your reference point, rather than more contemporary influences. Eastwood clearly loves many of the great players and composers of the past, but sometimes he honours them more than he creates something distinctive for the band.
This was a really enjoyable set, and a very good contrast to the rest of the programme. The audience clearly agreed and the band were warmly received, and the playing appreciated all round.
Tim Wall
