Kyle Eastwood's first memories of music are of jazz. Jazz was the only music he listened to for the first ten years of his life, thanks to his father Clint Eastwood's lifelong appreciation for the genre. The two attended the Monterey Jazz Festival regularly as Kyle was growing up, and there was something magnetic about watching someone play for an audience, even watching Clint play the piano at home, that completely captivated the young Kyle.

But it was only in 1986, two years into a film studies major at USC, that Kyle realized that music, and more precisely jazz, was his true passion. He took off what he thought would only be a year to pursue music, and has not looked back since. Having dabbled on the electric bass as a teenager, he now also plays the upright, acoustic, and double bass. Backed by an extraordinary band of old friends, Kyle has just released his second album, Paris Blue.

Michael Stevens, who Kyle met at USC in 1987, acted as producer for the album, played keyboards, and co-wrote Paris Blue' songs. The two had worked together on and off throughout the years, playing in various bands, and the album is testament to their sublime chemistry. Three-quarters of Paris Blue was recorded in apartments across Paris, equipment propped up on chairs, microphones unorthodoxly placed. Kyle chuckles as he remembers the various set-ups. This, coupled with the fact that the band comprises Kyle's longtime collaborators from Paris, Los Angeles, and New York, including Doug Webb on saxophone, Jim Rotondi on trumpet, Alan Pasqua on piano, Vinnie Colaiurta on drums, and Manuel Rocheman on piano, lends an immediate feeling of intimacy and nostalgia to the record.

Kyle did not have a record label to answer to during the inception and recording of the album, leaving him with the rare luxury of complete creative control. It was while living in London for almost a year that he made the acquaintance of Alan Bates, the owner of Candid Records, the same label that unleashed Jamie Cullum on the world. And it was through Candid that Kyle came in contact with Dave Koz's new jazz and chill label Rendezvous Entertainment. In fact, Kyle's Paris Blue marks Rendezvous' first foray into the realm of traditional jazz.

"Big Noise (from Winnetka)," the first track from Paris Blue, sets the tone for the record with an energetic drumbeat and a repeated whistled melody. "Big Noise" invokes a smoky Paris nightclub in the '20s, while the second track, "Marrakech," is immediately contemporary. This juxtaposition of styles displays Kyle's comfort with classic as well as contemporary jazz, and both feel perfectly at home on the album.

He lives between New York, LA, London, and Paris, and this no doubt influences his playing style. In the seven years between Paris Blue and his first album, From There To Here, Kyle established himself on the Paris jazz scene. He decided to take up residence there after spending a significant amount of time in the City of Light over the years. He was moved by the city. His now 11-year-old daughter began to go to school there, and he settled into a metropolis he sees as extremely open-minded to different kinds of music.

Kyle was continuously working, however, notably composing tracks for films such as "Mystic River" (2003) and "Million Dollar Baby" (2004). He has an innate film sensibility from starring in 1982's "Honkytonk Man," and his father went so far as to marry his two loves by directing "Bird," a biopic of Charlie Parker. Kyle says he enjoys the film work he's done, and it seems he will continue to lend his musical talent to all sorts of media.

Speaking by phone, he has the breezy unpretentiousness of somebody who loves music, plain and simple. He says he is "not a jazz purist," that he loves all kinds of music, and that jazz itself was originally an amalgamation of a wide variety of genres. Indeed, jazz’s improvisational spirit encourages the seamless melding of influences, and Paris Blue resonates with swing, groove, and funk undertones. As the album evolves, the sounds become even more eclectic, as "Cosmo" lays down a funk beat, and the remixes of "Big Noise" and "Marrakech" outright inspire dancing. The array of styles on Paris Blue pays tribute to Kyle's ability to criss-cross genres and still remain true to the spirit of jazz.

He has said, "My roots remain in jazz but I like adding all kinds of different flavors," and it is these different flavors, informed by Kyle's experience as an actor, film scorer, musician, and expatriate, that build endless layers of emotion into each song. "Marrakech," inspired by a trip to Morocco, is as personal as "Paris Blue," a song whose piano intro was both composed and performed by Kyle's daughter Graylen. The album is collaborative above all things, from Clint's whistling on "Big Noise" to the inspiration culled from his Graylen's offhand comment about a "Parisian blue."

This year, Kyle will be playing the closing night of the Monterey Jazz Festival, the same festival where he had the opportunity to meet such greats such as Dizzy Gillespie, Stan Getz, Buddy Rich, Ella Fitzgerald, and Sarah Vaughan as an adoring young fan. Across the ocean, Paris Blue has found its way to the #1 spot on the French jazz charts.

As someone who has had myriad opportunities to shine in many different careers, Kyle Eastwood has truly carved his own path as a musician whose playing reflects the richness and diversity of his life experience. Paris Blue is the work of a musician and band who are not only in tune with a broad audience, but who first and foremost love playing music.

1994, 1996, 1999, 2005

	Sunday Afternoon - September 20, 2008 / 5:30pm
	Garden Stage