Jazz Articles about Makaya McCraven

About Makaya McCraven

Album Review

Makaya McCraven: Deciphering the Message

Read "Deciphering the Message" reviewed by Angelo Leonardi

by Angelo Leonardi
November 8, 2021

Il debutto in casa Blue Note di Makaya McCraven è un omaggio alla storia musicale dell'etichetta, espresso ovviamente in prospettiva personale. Come ha fatto nei suoi dischi recenti—e in particolare nell'omaggio a Gil Scott-Heron (We're New Again, XL Recordings 2020)-il batterista e produttore di Chicago usa creativamente la tecnologia sperimentata dai DJ e produttori di hip-hop e club culture, in prospettiva nuova. Il classico repertorio Blue Note degli anni cinquanta e sessanta suscita l'attenzione delle subculture giovanili ...

Live Review

Rinascita a Chicago: le gemme dell’etichetta International Anthem

by Angelo Leonardi
April 9, 2021

Non è casuale che l'etichetta indipendente più innovativa nell'attuale panorama jazzistico (e non solo) sia nata e operi a Chicago. È noto infatti che la metropoli dell'Illinois è una delle capitali del jazz, avendo svolto un ruolo centrale in tutta la storia musicale afro-americana, talvolta paritetico con quello di New York. Nel 2014 a quasi cinquant'anni esatti dalla nascita dell'AACM (peraltro ancora vitale) grazie all'International Anthem Chicago torna a catalizzare l'attenzione del pubblico del jazz. Ovviamente non ...

Profile

La vita e la musica di Makaya McCraven

by Angelo Leonardi
January 29, 2021

Un ritratto di Makaya McCraven deve necessariamente considerare la mutazione antropologica che è avvenuta nell'ultima generazione di musicisti afroamericani che si spingono oltre la tradizionale sintesi tra jazz e generi popolari, usando creativamente la tecnologia sperimentata nell'ultimo trentennio dai DJ e produttori dell'hip-hop e della club culture. Le musiche di questo tumultuoso torrente si presentano con sempre nuove combinazioni in un caleidoscopio di suoni acustici ed elettronici, laceranti improvvisazioni su basi iterative, tecniche di campionamento e remixaggi ...

Interview

Makaya McCraven: Cross Border Traffic

by Chris May
September 3, 2020

Like his near contemporaries Shabaka Hutchings, Kamasi Washington, Nubya Garcia and Robert Glasper, the Chicago-based drummer, bandleader, producer and self-declared beat scientist Makaya McCraven is routinely described by the more breathless commentators writing about modern music as a “saviour" of jazz. Certainly, McCraven and his peers are enriching jazz by their embrace of other styles, be they hip hop, dub reggae, grime, cumbia or Afrobeat. Yet as McCraven, Hutchings, Washington, Garcia and Glasper are ready to point out, ...

Album Review

Makaya McCraven: Universal Beings E&F Sides

Read "Universal Beings E&F Sides" reviewed by Chris May

by Chris May
July 28, 2020

Universal Beings E&F Sides is an addendum to drummer and producer Makaya McCraven's paradigm-shifting underground hit Universal Beings (International Anthem, 2018). That album was a double (four sides: A, B, C and D). The new album is a single (two sides: E and F). Geddit? Most, but not all, of the tracks on E&F Sides were recorded at the same sessions as the first album, in London, Chicago, New York and Los Angeles. Featured musicians include young ...

Album Review

Jeff Parker & The New Breed: Suite For Max Brown

Read "Suite For Max Brown" reviewed by Jerome Wilson

by Jerome Wilson
March 28, 2020

Guitarist Jeff Parker spent many years in Chicago involved in the city's fertile jazz and experimental music scene, primarily as a member of the AACM and the band Tortoise. In 2013 he relocated to Los Angeles. Since then, his music as a leader has combined a 70's rhythm and blues vibe with the sampling, electronic manipulation and serial techniques he was involved with in Chicago. This album, dedicated to his mother whose maiden name was Maxine Brown, shows just how ...

Album Review

Jeremy Cunningham: The Weather Up There

Read "The Weather Up There" reviewed by Jakob Baekgaard

by Jakob Baekgaard
February 22, 2020

The complex landscape of human emotions is still vastly uncharted, but every true work of art adds a little piece to the puzzle. This can be done in many ways, but it is rare that an album connects emotion with complex layers of memory, interpersonal relations, politics and societal structures. Nevertheless, this is what drummer and composer Jeremy Cunningham's album does. In a statement, Cunningham explains the background: “I wrote The Weather Up There to confront the ...