Makaya McCraven – Where We Come From (Chicago x London Mixtape) (2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 46:21 minutes | 522 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © International Anthem
Drummer/producer Makaya McCraven traveled to London in October of 2017 to record material for a new album (which has since been titled Universal Beings & will come out on International Anthem in Fall of 2018). Over the course of 3 days in London, Makaya connected with first time collaborators (Theon Cross, Nubya Garcia, Joe Armon-Jones, Soweto Kinch, Ashley Henry, Daniel Casimir and Kamaal Williams), and in addition to the Universal Beings studio sessions, did 2 improvised performances as part of a 2-night showcase called CHICAGOxLONDON presented by International Anthem & EZH Mag at legendary UK Jazz hub Total Refreshment Centre (TRC). The following Sunday afternoon five producers (LeFtO, Ben LaMar Gay, Quiet Dawn, Earl Jeffers & Don Leisure of the Darkhouse Family) were invited to TRC to participate in an event called Fresh Roasted: Live Beat-Making & Battle, where they did live remixes of the recordings from Makaya & co’s CHICAGOxLONDON performances. In the subsequent months, remixes by Emma-Jean Thackray and Lexus Blondin were added to the pool, at which point Makaya took all the remixes and the raw live recordings from TRC back to his home studio in Chicago, chopped everything up and re-composed the music into two continuous side suites for this CHICAGOxLONDON mixtape.
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Makaya McCraven – Universal Beings E&F Sides (2020)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 43:22 minutes | 463 MB | Genre: Contemporary Jazz, Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © International Anthem
A new project by Chicago-based drummer/producer Makaya McCraven. An addendum to his critically-acclaimed 2018 release Universal Beings, which The New York Times said “affirms the drummer and beatsmith’s position as a major figure in creative music,” Universal Beings E&F Sides presents fourteen new pieces of organic beat music cut from the original sessions, prepared and produced by Makaya as a soundtrack to the Universal Beings documentary film.
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Makaya McCraven – Deciphering The Message (2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 42:21 minutes | 520 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Blue Note Records
Bebop jazz remix albums are nothing new. In fact when it comes to the revered Blue Note catalog, it’s been plumbed by remixers a number of times in recent years since Don Was took over as label president. As trendy an idea as it is, remixing or more accurately making new albums out of the raw materials provided by a catalog as illustrious as Blue Note’s is a delicate dance. To succeed you must stay respectful of the sources while adding to their legacy and making music that, as drummer/remixer Makaya McCraven puts it, “people can vibe to.” There’s even an underlying educational element to these remixes. If the beat scientist generation hears a track with Lee Morgan’s trumpet or Hank Mobley’s tenor sax, perhaps this will pique enough curiosity to explore the original records. An edge that McCraven has over straight remixers who may only be manipulating laptops is that he can add live instrumental tracks to samples of the original recordings. With the octet he’s assembled—vibraphonist Joel Ross, trumpeter Marquis Hill, alto saxophonist Greg Ward, guitarists Matt Gold and Jeff Parker, bassist Junius Paul, and De’Sean Jones on tenor saxophone and flute—McCraven can control, accentuate and reshape the core rhythms of the older recordings, guiding the remix with live drums and percussion. His method is intricate and controversial, often working best when just he and a few extra instrumentalists contribute. A track like “Wail Bait,” written by Quincy Jones and originally played by an all-star group of boppers including trumpeter Clifford Brown, pianist John Lewis and drummer Art Blakey, now has Brown’s horn and Blakey’s drums opening before McCraven’s drums enter and then Jones’ flute, Ross’ vibraphone and McCraven on guitar take over the tune. In Kenny Burrell’s version of “Autumn in New York,” here called “Spring in Chicago,” his original guitar part meshes beautifully with the added flute and vibes. The massed female voices present in the original of Eddie Gale’s “Black Rhythm Happening” are seamlessly joined by drummer McCraven and Jones on tenor sax and flute on a remix of the same name. While Jack Wilson’s “Frank’s Tune,” now called “De’Jeff’s Tune,” ‘ventures a long way from the original with added keyboards and flute, it does have one of McCraven’s wisest touches—spoken introductions from original Blue Note records, in this case by Blakey. Adding fresh grooves to classic jazz has uncovered new messages in venerated vessels. – Robert Baird
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Makaya McCraven – In These Times (2022)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 41:17 minutes | 451 MB | Genre: Contemporary Jazz, Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © XL Recordings
In These Times is a collection of polytemporal compositions inspired as much by broader cultural struggles as McCraven’s personal experience as a product of a multinational, working class musician community. With contributions from over a dozen musicians and creative partners from his tight-knit circle of collaborators – including Jeff Parker, Junius Paul, Brandee Younger, Joel Ross, and Marquis Hill – the music was recorded in five different studios and four live performance spaces while McCraven engaged in extensive post-production work at home. Featuring orchestral, large ensemble arrangements interwoven with the signature “organic beat music” sound that’s become his signature, the album is an evolution and a milestone for McCraven, the producer. But moreover, it’s the strongest and clearest statement we’ve yet to hear from McCraven, the composer.
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Antoine Berjeaut & Makaya McCraven – Moving Cities (2019)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 53:40 minutes | 591 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © I See Colors
Bridging the spaces between the Paris and Chicago scenes, Moving Cities brings together the best of both worlds and is emblematic of a new, utterly modern jazz going through a true aesthetic revolution. Moving Cities started as a live laboratory set up by Berjeaut and McCraven; it echoes the recent evolution of international metropolises constantly torn between individualism and collective endeavors, in a disrupted geography. In today’s musical landscape, there is a strong push to reassess and redefine musical genres. Incorporating all kinds of influences has become a driving force, and jazz, like other genres, is now experiencing an explosion of its aesthetic boundaries. It has moved away from its ponderous legacy and now fully channels the spirit of the times – as it once used to. Unarguably Antoine Berjeaut, Makaya McCraven, Junius Paul and Julien Lourau are, each in their own way, a major contribution to the work-in-progress that jazz is today. Gathered for this new project, they have challenged themselves and gone beyond conventional jazz idioms and structures, in the best way possible: instinctively, as members of an energetic and remarkably creative ensemble led by Berjeaut and McCraven. Moving Cities conjures up an ever-expanding universe ruled by immediacy and tension, while always allowing for collective inspiration. The album conveys the poetry of transformed and dismembered cities, whose inhabitants are in constant search of meaning. Hyper-connected standardized cities desperately missing horizontality.
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Makaya McCraven – In The Moment (2015)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44.1 kHz | Time – 1:13:41 minutes | 810 MB | Genre: Jazz
Official Digital Download – Source: Bandcamp | @ International Anthem
Drummer/producer Makaya McCraven brings together “future-is-now drumming” with his roots in jazz and world music to form his unique and powerful sound. Regarded as “one of Chicago’s most versatile and in demand drummers” (Chicago Reader) and described by Downbeat Magazine as “exceptional on the drums,” Makaya McCraven moves between genres at lightning speed. “In The Moment” is nearly 48 hours of live improvised performance recorded at 1 venue over 12 months and 28 shows – culled, cut, rendered, and remixed into 19 potent pieces of organic beat music. This is music made by a 21st century man who sees no need to suppress his hip hop chops or rock spirit in an effort to fit in and be dubbed a jazz drummer. (more…)
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