Originally produced for television in 1997, Eastwood After Hours: Live at Carnegie Hall captures a historic moment at the famous performance venue in New York City: the October 17, 1996 concert by some of the most famous jazz musicians of their generation performing music from the films of Clint Eastwood. The tribute is notable not only for Eastwood's presence at the event but also spotlights his participation in a piano solo, performing his own composition "After Hours/C.E. Blues." Even his son Kyle gets an opportunity to shine with a stand-up bass solo on "This Time the Dream's on Me."

Eastwood After Hours was produced and directed by the late Bruce Ricker (the former attorney turned filmmaker died on May 13, 2011 after a long bout with pneumonia); his debut film The Last of the Blue Devils (1979) was a critically acclaimed indie release which celebrated Kansas City jazz and such musical legends as Big Joe Turner, Count Basie, Jay McShann and other musicians who gathered together for a reunion concert and to reminisce about their heyday.

Although the documentary is sprinkled with archival photographs of famous jazz artists, movie clips and Eastwood commenting occasionally on his love of jazz and its importance in his films, it is primarily a concert film. Among some of the many highlights are Barry Harris and Kenny Barron performing "Misty" (which was central to the plot of Eastwood's Play Misty for Me, 1971), Jimmy Scott singing "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" (also from Play Misty for Me), jazz fiddler Claude Williams riffing on "San Antonio Rose" (featured in Honkytonk Man, 1982), James Moody's rendition of "Parker's Mood" (from Bird, 1988), and the Carnegie Hall Jazz Band with guest vocalist Kevin Mahogany singing "Satin Doll" (which was heard on the soundtrack of White Hunter Black Heart, 1990). The concert's most ambitious performance piece, however, is the "Eastwood: After Hours Suite," conducted by Lennie Niehaus with soloists James Rivers, Joshua Redman and James Carter. Using clips from several of Eastwood's movies, the composition is a medley of popular jazz standards and movie/TV themes such as "Straight No Chaser" (Eastwood and Ricker co-produced the 1988 documentary Thelonious Monk: Straight, No Chaser) and "Rawhide."

At the end of Eastwood After Hours: Live at Carnegie Hall, Eastwood makes a revealing statement about his love of jazz, " I found out it was a good way to get along in society if you could sit down and play a number or two. I worked at it for a while, but I didn't really work at it as rigorously, and I got sidetracked and became an actor, so it kind of ruined my whole career." Although he says this jokingly, one wonders what might have happened had Eastwood followed his love of jazz instead of moviemaking.

Certainly no jazz aficionado will want to miss this one-of-a-kind tribute and Eastwood movie fans might get a kick out of it too. The only reservation about Eastwood After Hours: Live at Carnegie Hall is that the dynamic performances and solos would be even more effective if they were not constantly interrupted by short film clips from the films in which the songs figured prominently. Sometimes these put the music in the context of Clint's career but most of the time they are simply an unnecessary distraction from the main event - a celebration of jazz performed by jazz legends.

Producer: Bruce Ricker
Director: Bruce Ricker, George Wein
Screenplay: Bruce Ricker, Richard B. Woodward
Film Editing: Joel Cox
Cast: Kenny Barron, Clint Eastwood, Charles McPherson, Jay McShann, Phil Ramone, Joshua Redman, Jimmy Scott, George Wein.
C&BW-106m.

by Jeff Stafford