Makaya McCraven
Universal Beings (Magazine)
The seventh issue of We Jazz Magazine, "Universal Beings" for Makaya McCraven. 128 pages 174 x 240 mm in size and printed on 140g Edixion paper with laminated 300g Invercote covers. All articles presented in English. Stories include Makaya McCraven by Ayana Contreras, Sonny Rollins by Ashley Kahn, Peter Evans by Andrey Henkin, Amina Claudine Myers by Seymour Wright, Adolphe Sax by Harry Eddy, Ronald Snijders by Mike Bindraban, introducing our new columnist Mats Gustafsson, Puristamo Helsinki pre…
In These Times
In These Times is the new album by Chicago-based percussionist, composer, producer, and pillar of our label family, Makaya McCraven. Although this album is “new," the truth it’s something that's been in process for a very long time, since shortly after he released his International Anthem debut In The Moment in 2015. Dedicated followers may note he’s had 6 other releases in the meantime (including 2018’s widely-popular Universal Beings and 2020’s We’re New Again, his rework of Gil Scott-Heron’s …
Radio Over Miles
What would it sound like if Miles Davis and Radiohead had a baby? Released February 5, 2010. Greg Spero - keyboards Corey Wilkes - trumpet Makaya McCraven - drums Junius Paul - bass uartet – Radio Over Miles
Where We Come From
Makaya McCraven’s mixtape is the product of an activist’s intuition, bringing together the brightest stars of the time between Chicago and London. How do we explain this meeting of two cities’ scenes if not via the buzz around each? Host to the locals on their turf, Makaya McCraven was surrounded by young English treasures (Joe Armon-Jones, Nubya Garcia, Theon Cross, Kamaal Williams, Emma Jean-Thackray) for two concerts at the TRC. Once recorded, they then placed the Chicago drummer in his curr…
Universal Beings E&F Sides
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.Directed by Mark Pallman, the Universal Beings do…
In the Moment - Deluxe Edition
**New 3LP Deluxe Edition** Makaya McCraven's early 2015 offering In The Moment was pared from nearly 48 hours of live, improvised performance recorded at 1 venue over 12 months and 28 shows. Working with instrumental contributions from an array of Chicago jazz players (including Jeff Parker, Joshua Abrams, Marquis Hill, and Matt Ulery), Makaya culled, cut, rendered and remixed the mass of sounds into 19 potent pieces of organic beat music for the original 80-minute, 2xLP issue.At the close of a …
Universal Beings
Paris-born, New England-raised, long-time Chicago-residing Makaya McCraven has been at the forefront of genre-redefining movements in jazz since 2015, when he introduced the world to his unique brand of ‘organic beat music’ on the breakout album In the Moment. Culled, cut, post-produced and re-composed by Makaya using recordings of free improvisation he collected over dozens of live sessions in Chicago, through incubation and experimentation In the Moment established a procedural blueprint that …
Highly Rare
Highly Rare is a new mixtape produced & arranged by Makaya McCraven. It’s titled Highly Rare not only for the format of its initial release (a limited-edition run of cassettes packaged in screen-printed, string-sealed, firecracker red envelopes), but foremost for the context of the source material’s capture. The sounds were recorded to four track cassette tape at a DIY show packed into the confines of Chicago dive Danny's Tavern, a place definitely not known for having live bands, let alone…
In the Moment E & F Sides
Makaya McCraven's In The Moment E & F Sides contain 40 minutes of additional music from the original In The Moment sessions. These 9 pieces of organic beat music were sampled concurrently, but not fully completed, with the 19 that comprised the January 2015 release. Slowly refined by McCraven and mastered in November 2015 by Daddy Kev (founder of Low End Theory, Alpha Pup Records), the In The Moment E & F Sides demonstrate McCraven's further actualization as a unique composer/producer in an…
In The Moment
2016 restock. 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…