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Makaya McCraven: In The Moment
by Mark Corroto
Somewhere in heaven Miles smiles, Miles Davis that is. Beside him, listening to In The Moment by drummer, mixmaster, and organizer Makaya McCraven is Teo Macero. Both men would have given the nod to this project that culled 73 minutes of music from 48 hours of live performance, recorded over a year of performance with an array of guests. Miles and Teo (circa 1969) loved long-form improvised jazz. However, like McCraven, they might not call this music (and ...
Continue ReadingMakaya McCraven: In the Moment
by Jakob Baekgaard
One venue, 28 shows and 48 hours of live, improvised music. These are the ingredients for Chicago-based drummer Makaya McCraven's album In the Moment. However, McCraven, as the producer he also is, has not just thrown some random sounds together. Instead, he has carefully culled, cut and remixed the music into a coherent whole and 19 complex and catchy compositions emerge from his hands. The meeting between completely fresh improvisations from some of Chicago's finest musicians and ...
Continue ReadingMakaya McCraven: Split Decision
by Dan Bilawsky
Drummer Makaya McCraven supposedly “thinks about rhythm last" when composing, yet his music is all about rhythmic perspicacity. McCraven, who was born in Paris, spent his formative years in Massachusetts and eventually uprooted himself to move to Chicago, uses rhythm as a thickening agent, call to arms, catalyst and continual game changer, throughout this engaging debut. McCraven put together a piano trio for his first leader date, but he doesn't make the same old piano trio music. ...
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