Makaya McCraven

Born in Paris to a jazz drummer father and a mother of Hungarian origin who was a singer, and raised in Northampton, Massachusetts before moving to Chicago, Makaya McCraven has developed an approach that sits between contemporary jazz, collective improvisation, hip‑hop–inherited grooves and a studio‑editing sensibility. A drummer, composer and producer, McCraven established himself during the 2010s on Chicago’s creative scene with a method of starting from long public or group sessions and recomposing that material into compact, rhythmic and very open pieces. This aesthetic is evident on In the Moment (2015) and Universal Beings (2018), recorded with musicians from several American and British scenes. He continued this recompositional work with We’re New Again: A Reimagining by Makaya McCraven (2020), drawing on Gil Scott‑Heron recordings, Deciphering the Message (2021), which revisits repertoire linked to 1950s–60s jazz, and In These Times (2022), a more composed album marked by string arrangements and an orchestral dimension. Between a supple pulse, rhythmic craft and constant attention to the collective, Makaya McCraven puts jazz heritage into conversation with contemporary forms of improvised music.