Past Performing Arts | Music

Makaya McCraven

Columbus Premiere

Makaya McCraven, who has dark hair and is wearing a large golden circle pendant over a black shirt, stands, looking to the left, in front of tropical greenery and houses in the background.

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.”

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"Sampling is a play between future and past...I want to honour the music we came from."
Makaya McCraven, Guardian (UK)
Makaya McCraven, who has dark hair and is wearing a large golden circle pendant over a black shirt, stands, looking to the left, in front of tropical greenery and houses in the background.

Makaya McCraven, photo: Michael McDermott.

Makaya McCraven, who has dark hair and is wearing a large golden circle pendant and a patterned red jacket, sits in front of a red background; he is smiling and has his right arm on one knee and his left hand on the other.

Makaya McCraven, photo: Nolis Anderson. 

Makaya McCraven, who has dark hair and is wearing a large golden circle pendant over a black shirt, stands, looking to the right, in front of tropical foliage.

Makaya McCraven, photo: Michael McDermott.

More about the artist

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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

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Past Performing Arts

Makaya McCraven