Kyle Eastwood

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Kyle Eastwood at the Jazz Cafe, London
Kyle Eastwood at the Jazz Cafe, London

Kyle Eastwood is a jazz musician and the son of actor-director Clint Eastwood and Maggie Johnson. He was born on May 19, 1968 in Los Angeles, California, and grew up in Carmel, California. He studied film at the University of Southern California for two years before embarking on a music career. After becoming a session player in the early '90s and leading his own quartet, he released his first solo CD, From There to Here, in 1998. His most recent CD, Now, was released in 2006 by Rendezvous. Eastwood plays the upright, acoustic, and double bass, as well as bass guitar.

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[edit] Musical background

Eastwood comes from a musical family, as explained in an October 27, 2006, from The Independent: "When I told my father I wanted to be a musician he was happy about it. Music has always been important to my family. My parents gave me my taste in music and my love of jazz from an early age. My father plays piano, my mother used to play, and my mother's mother was a music teacher at Northwestern University in Illinois."[1]

It comes as little surprise, then, that music was a prominent fixture in the Eastwood home. According to his biography with Hopper Management, Eastwood grew up listening to jazz records by legends such as Miles Davis, Dave Brubeck, Thelonious Monk, and the Stan Kenton Big Band with his parents, both jazz lovers. Eastwood attended the Monterey Jazz Festival numerous times with his parents, as well. "One advantage of having a famous father was I got to go backstage", Eastwood explained in an interview conducted by stepmother Dina Ruiz Eastwood. "I met a lot of artists, greats like Dizzy Gillespie and Sarah Vaughan. Looking back on that, I can see how much the musicians I met there influenced my career."

Eastwood began tinkering with the electric bass guitar in high school, learning R&B, Motown, and reggae tunes by ear. At the age of 18, Eastwood began jamming with friends for fun, ultimately deciding that music was what he wanted to do. After studying with French bassist Bunny Brunel, he began playing gigs around the New York and Los Angeles areas, eventually forming the Kyle Eastwood Quartet, who contributed to 1996's Eastwood After Hours: Live at Carnegie Hall,[2], a concert saluting Clint Eastwood and his love of jazz. His father has always been supportive of, and interested in, his work, as Eastwood told The Independent: "As far as my father is concerned, as long as I was serious about my music career, he was supportive of me."

Two years later, in 1998, Sony released his first CD, From There to Here, a collection of both jazz standards and original compositions. After signing with the UK's Candid Records in 2004, Eastwood moved to Dave Koz's label, Rendezvous, which has released his last two albums: 2005's Paris Blue, and 2006's Now.

In addition to his solo albums, Eastwood has also contributed music to five of his father's films: The Rookie (1990), Mystic River (2002), Million Dollar Baby (2004), Flags of Our Fathers (2006), and Letters from Iwo Jima (2006).

While Eastwood has never denied that having a famous father has helped his career to a degree, he has said that he hopes that his accomplishments as a musician, composer, and arranger will stand on their own. "Being the son of someone that famous has its advantages and drawbacks", he told] The Independent. "I guess I try not to think about it really. First and foremost I think of him as my father, not the moviestar stuff. He's just my dad. I just do what I do and hope people judge my music on its own merits."[3]

[edit] Family life

The son of Clint Eastwood and Maggie Johnson, he is the older brother of actress, model and fashion designer Alison Eastwood. He has one daughter, Graylen (b. 1994), with ex-wife Laura Gomez.

[edit] Trivia

[edit] Discography

Album Label Release Date
Now Rendezvous 2006
Paris Blue Rendezvous 2004
From There to Here Sony 1998

[edit] Filmography - Composer/Performer/Arranger

[edit] Filmography - Actor

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ Kyle Interview in "The Independent" (October 27, 2006)
  2. ^ Eastwood After Hours: Live at Carnegie Hall
  3. ^ Kyle Interview in "The Independent" (October 27, 2006)

[edit] External links