Metropolitan

Kyle Eastwood's fourth recording takes the bassist into a populist mode, playing music much more on the contemporary side of the jazz dichotomy. Far from a mainstream or swinging date, the acoustic and electric bassist seems as if he's determined to compose music for the screenplay in his head from his time spent in Paris, France, where this was recorded. The fine drummer Manu Katche, keyboardist Eric Legnini, and trumpeter Till Bronner are focused into making this music less standardized and more rhythm & blues oriented. It's produced by longtime collaborator Michael Stevens with help from the son of Miles Davis, Erin Davis, and sports the quadruple attachment to Eastwood's Rendezvous production company and Chick Corea's manager, Ron Moss, from L.A., the legendary Candid label, and Detroit's Mack Avenue record company. Certainly a combined global team, it reflects the commercial nature of the music without selling out to the lowest common, so-called "smooth" denominator -- a good thing indeed. Katche has much to do with the sonic image of this music, whether setting up 5/4 vamps on "Black Light," offering two-beat faux to real Brazilian beats on "Samba de Paris," or switching from light to heavy funk during "Le Balai." His greatest rhythmic contribution during "Rue Perdue" represents the street smart strut that dominates this paper thin melody, and drives the funky little line of "Hot Box," or "Bel Air" that parallels "A Night in Tunisia." The title track, urged by Legnini's minimalist piano juxtaposed against French vocalist Camille's wordless singing, while "Bold Changes" is not as its title suggests, but instead more like an ECM track in its spirit/soul, if not pop vein. Bronner is heard throughout the disc in a relegated, sparse role, while Eastwood only occasionally leads out the songs, most noticeably with Legnini for "Samba de Paris" and "Le Balai," but by himself in resonant tones for the harmonically based 6/8 rhythm of "Song for You." This is a credible effort with a degree of distinction, not so much cinematic as it is functional, and pleasant enough to reach an audience that does not depend on overt swing, virtuosity, or improvisation to make their ears tick. ~ Michael G. Nastos