Kyle Eastwood

Kyle Eastwood is following in his father's footsteps. The tall and lanky 30-year-old is a dead ringer for his dad, actor and Oscar-winning director Clint Eastwood. But he's not trying to make it in the movie business. An accomplished jazz bassist, Eastwood is pursuing a career in the artistic field that was his father's first love.

Kyle Eastwood came early to jazz. Growing up on the Monterey Peninsula in California, the son of two music-loving parents, he particularly remembers hearing Miles Davis, Dave Brubeck and the Stan Kenton Big Band as a child. His father, Clint Eastwood, may be best known for his Westerns, but he loves jazz and several years ago produced the film, Bird, about the life of bebop-legend Charlie Parker. "Dad made sure I heard jazz," says Eastwod. "He took us every year to the Monterey Jazz Festival. One nice thing about having Clint Eastwood for your father, you get to go back stage. He introduced me to Sarah Vaughan, Miles Davis and other jazz legends. And at home, music was always was there."

Many of Eastwood's high school friends in Pebble Beach jammed together. "I'd already played some guitar when I was really young," he says. "Until I was 18, I played just for the fun of it. Then I picked up the electric bass and got serious." His father arranged for him to study with the distinguished French bassist, Bunny Brunel. For a brief time, film interested him but just a few months away from music in film school taught him that his heart belonged to jazz. He left and at 23 formed his own band, West Quintet.

In the following years, Eastwood took all kinds of gigs in the Los Angeles area - "just to be playing." He worked as a studio musician, backed pop singers and played film scores, among them his father's composition for Unforgiven. "Great experience," he says, "I always keep an open mind about music." Consequently, he became versed in a variety of styles. "My roots remain in jazz but I like adding all kinds of different flavors." He mentions bassists Paul Chambers and Ron Carter as heroes but looks at his instrument from many viewpoints.

Recently, Eastwood moved to New York City, with his wife, Spanish actress Laura Gomez, and their four-year-old daughter, Graylen. He is very specific about his reasons. "New York offers more opportunities for me to play," he says. "I want to be around other young musicians. The only way to develop is to keep doing it - and besides my family, that's all I care about."