David Myles continues to surprise us with his impending instrumental album, That Tall Distance. Following the release of his deliciously funky single, “Bird Song” – wowing us with his nod to legends like Herbie Hancock and Freddie Hubbard – his latest, “Hawkshaw” give us a second tantalizing glimpse at this previously unseen side of Myles.
As Myles has pointed out, and can be clearly heard in his past albums, he has some very good taste. Willie Nelson and Roy Orbison may have shined on Real Love, but it’s the early influences of the big band era that are coming out on That Tall Distance, with Myles noting his love for Duke Ellington, Count Basie, and Quincy Jones.
Despite what seems like a major shift in sound from the guy who brought us “Inner Ninja” and “Santa Never Brings Me a Banjo,” it’s the natural course of action for a kid who grew up playing trumpet in school jazz bands. “Hawkshaw” is music on a grand scale. Funkier still than “Bird Song,””Hawkshaw” scratches an itch for a big sound that probably doesn’t get revisited often enough in our contemporary sonics landscape.
“With ‘Hawkshaw,’ I dreamed that our high school band played at a dance contest, and that’s how the band sounded here,” says Myles. “Trumpet and trombone lead the charge, but the magic is in the baseline on this one.”
Fortunately for Myles, he also has excellent taste in collaborators, and a deep pool to draw from. He’s been tapping local legends such as Joshua Van Tassel, Andrew Jackson, Leith Fleming-Smith, Asa Brosius, and Dean Drouillard for the project.
While Myles has taken an approach to the project that let’s the music breath, with each musician given plenty of leeway to fill in the blanks, he names drummer Van Tassel as the key to the funk odyssey of “Hawkshaw.”
“We’ve made countless records together, and his art is subtle,” says Myles. “And though subtle, it is incredibly substantial. I would send him an idea, a song structure, and he would come back with the most amazing sounding beat. That’s what this record is: Josh and I going deep into the music we love, with grooves we can really get behind, enlisting musicians we love to really take these songs to a new level.”
That Tall Distance, the upcoming album from David Myles is out August 27th, 2021.