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Past Performing Arts | Music
Columbus Premiere
$12 members $15 general public $10 students and seniors
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Explore new frontiers in hip-hop and jazz with beat scientist Makaya McCraven and band as they perform in support of their latest project, Deciphering the Message.
McCraven is one of jazz’s sound innovators with a filmic style that transcends genre. Across numerous albums and mixtapes, the musician has proven his mastery of collaging sound, looping beats, and layering live and sampled percussion. With acclaimed releases like In the Moment (2015) and Universal Beings (2018), McCraven began shaping his own brand of jazz by sampling improvised sessions and molding the audio into something completely its own. And in We’re New Again (2020), McCraven reenvisions the words of famous poet and musician Gil Scott-Heron.
Deciphering the Message (2021) summons the soul of the renowned Blue Note jazz label, purposefully obscuring the use of samples and live sessions to create music that is intimate yet ethereal. Merging bebop with hip-hop, the drummer continues to break new ground while acknowledging the past. “I just want to honour this music: improvised music, Black American music, whatever you want to call it,” explains McCraven in the Guardian. “I’m not reinventing the wheel, I’m just learning how it’s constructed and using that knowledge to make a statement that will stand the test of time.”
Artist’s website
Interview: “’Evolution is part of tradition’: musician Makaya McCraven on the future of jazz,” Guardian (UK)
Makaya McCraven, photo: Michael McDermott.
Makaya McCraven, photo: Nolis Anderson.
Chicago-based drummer and producer Makaya McCraven was born in France, raised in Massachusetts by musical parents, and studied jazz at the University of Massachusetts Amherst with famous mentors Archie Shepp, Marion Brown, and Yusef Lateef. McCraven’s trailblazing album In the Moment (International Anthem Recording Co., 2015), received global praise and ushered him to the forefront of the international jazz scene and a select group crossing the lines between jazz and electronic genres.
WEXNER CENTER PROGRAMS MADE POSSIBLE BY The Wexner Family Greater Columbus Arts Council The Columbus Foundation Ohio Arts Council American Electric Power Foundation L Brands Foundation Adam Flatto Mary and C. Robert Kidder Bill and Sheila Lambert Institute of Museum and Library Services Nationwide Foundation Vorys, Sater, Seymour, and Pease
ADDITIONAL SUPPORT PROVIDED BY Michael and Paige Crane Pete Scantland Axium Packaging CampusParc Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams President Kristina M. Johnson and Mrs. Veronica Meinhard Nancy Kramer Huntington Lisa Barton Johanna DeStefano Russell and Joyce Gertmenian Liza Kessler and Greg Henchel Ron and Ann Pizzuti Joyce and Chuck Shenk Bruce and Joy Soll Jones Day
Past Performing Arts
Makaya McCraven
