WHEN your dad is Clint Eastwood then you could not be blamed for wanting to follow the acting trail of a movie icon who first hit the screen as the legendary cowboy Rowdy Yates.

Kyle Eastwood has all the Hollywood credentials. As well as sharing his Pa’s rugged looks he majored in film studies at university and grew up around film sets.

But the eldest son of the movie legend preferred to cast himself a major role in music.

Since bursting onto the scene nearly 20 years ago with his debut album From There to Here he has firmly established himself on the global jazz circuit.

He was making a welcome return to The Concorde after headlining a sell out three night run at the legendary Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club in London.

Earlier I spotted Kyle as I was crossing the car park on my way to the Stoneham Lane club. We have met before and he greeted me with a warm handshake before giving me a name check of his band.

Then he headed to the restaurant for a pre-gig meal before serving up a generous helping of smooth jazz.

It is a genre of music that grew out of jazz fusion and is influenced by jazz, R& B, rock and pop music styles.

Smooth jazz is an acquired taste but judging by the reaction of the Concorde audience it has many dedicated followers.

This unique brand of music was driven along by Eastwood’s masterful handiwork on acoustic, electric guitar and double bass.

He was ably assisted with some superb solo contributions from Andrew McCormack (piano) Graeme Blevins (tenor saxophone) Quentin Collins (trumpet) and Chris Draper (drums) Kyle wrote music scores for eight of his father’s films, including Letters from Iwo Jima which always gets a warm response.

Concorde jazz fans were also taken on a journey which has inspired Eastwood’s compositions stopping off at Paris, Rio De Janeiro and Northern Africa.

The playlist included from Rio to Havana, Marrakech and that big band 1940s’ crowd pleaser Big Noise which has had many covers.

This was a flawless performance apart from a technical glitch which for a time seem to baffle Kyle and his band mates.

Calls for an encore were rewarded with a rip roaring version of famed jazz pianist Horace Silver’s Blowin’ the Blues Away.

The Kyle Eastwood jazz trail will be crossing the Solent for the Isle of Wight Jazz Festival on May 2.