Kyle Eastwood returns with new album "Timepieces" and UK Tour

Source: Michael Ricci
February 17, 2015
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The son of legendary actor Clint Eastwood, star bassist and composer Kyle Eastwood unveils details of his new album, Timepieces, released 21st April, and extensive UK tour including four nights at legendary London jazz club Ronnie Scott's

Timepieces is Kyle Eastwood��s musical self-portrait. Centred around the bassist��s passion for the lyrical hard bop jazz of the late 50s and early 60s, the album also touches on Eastwood��s compositions for the big screen. Full of melodic elegance and a sustained sense of groove this album puts us right at the heart of a modern, contemporary jazz songbook.

Timepieces runs the gamut of Kyle Eastwood��s influences to date��there are two covers of great Jazz standards of the 60s ("Dolphin Dance" by

Herbie Hancock

piano
b.1940

" data-original-title="" title="">Herbie Hancock and “Blowin 'The Blues Away" by

Horace Silver

piano
1928 - 2014

" data-original-title="" title="">Horace Silver) alongside a series of original compositions that pay homage to the past whilst also connecting with the spirit of our time ("Prosecco Smile" has a typical boogaloo groove, “Incantation" is a nod to the lyricism of

Wayne Shorter

saxophone
1933 - 2023

" data-original-title="" title="">Wayne Shorter, “Peace of Silver" is dedicated to the memory of Horace Silver who died during the session), and, for the first time, Eastwood��s work for the silver screen is incorporated into the repertoire, a theme taken from his score for Letters From Iwo Jima here reinterpreted as a beautiful piano/bass duet.

“What I wanted to do in this record is to pay my debt to the Jazz from the late 50s and early 60s," says Kyle Eastwood. “This lyrical hard bop, full of groove and sophisticated harmonies played by

Art Blakey

drums
1919 - 1990

" data-original-title="" title="">Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers when

Lee Morgan

trumpet
1938 - 1972

" data-original-title="" title="">Lee Morgan and Wayne Shorter were part of it, Horace Silver's bands on Blue Note or

Miles Davis

trumpet
1926 - 1991

" data-original-title="" title="">Miles Davis' various quintets throughout the 60s: it's the music I like the most, and that has never ceased to fascinate me since I discovered it as a teenager...What was amazing at the time was how all these groups had an immediately recognizable signature. I wondered where this singularity came from and I concluded that this was primarily down to years of collaboration. It is with this way of thinking and playing the music that I sought to reconnect in this new album. “

Timepieces also sees Eastwood make a few changes to the personnel in his quintet��long-time collaborators Andrew McCormack (piano) and

Quentin Collins

flugelhorn

" data-original-title="" title="">Quentin Collins (trumpet, flugelhorn) remain, whilst saxophonist

Brandon Allen

saxophone

" data-original-title="" title="">Brandon Allen and Cuban-born, London-based drummer

Ernesto Simpson

drums

" data-original-title="" title="">Ernesto Simpson come into the fold.

“The repertoire has been designed and really worked on collectively," says Kyle. “I brought most of the hardware, snatches of melodies, chord progressions, but most, often terminal, pieces crystallized during rehearsals sessions and interactions. The association that I form with pianist Andrew McCormack and trumpeter Quentin Collins dates almost 10 years now. It is a luxury to be able to develop a project on such a long term. You can hear it clearly in the music we do. While our complicity is the heart of this quintet, which now has a real homogeneity in sound, the fact that new musicians were introduced into the band is very important. Brandon Allen on saxophones and especially Ernesto Simpson on drums, who is originally from Cuba and brought to the band all his passion and such particular Latin swing, have undoubtedly enriched the music of this album by opening it to new horizons."

UK Tour Dates 2015

24 April - Fleece Jazz, Stoke by Nayland
25 April - Pizza Express, Maidstone
27 April - The Regal Cinema, Evesham
29 April - The Tivoli Theatre, Wimborne
01 May - The Concorde Club, Eastleigh
20 May - Ronnie Scott's, London
21 May - Ronnie Scott's, London
22 May - Ronnie Scott's, London
23 May - Ronnie Scott's, London
24 May - Taliesin Arts Centre, Swansea