The band leader, Makaya McCraven, is one of the leading lights of the new generation of drummers, a 'beat scientist', whose name can be found on one of the finest records of 2020. Incidentally, he is also of Hungarian origin - and from a musical family at that - his mother, Ágnes Zsigmondi, is a singer and flute player in the legendary group Kolinda. McCraven views contemporary jazz in terms of the layers of the genre's history, and himself adds freshness with a groove-centred sound and hip-hop-style off-beats. His sound is one of the most exciting ones around.
Makaya McCraven's parents - Zsigmondi, who defected from Hungary in 1979, and the American jazz drummer Stephen McCraven (the drummer for Archie Shepp, among other activities) met in Paris, where Makaya was born in 1983, before they all relocated to the US three years later. McCraven began making a name for himself on the Chicago jazz scene in the 2000s among avant-garde musicians breaking down the orthodox limits of the genre. Through his sensational club concerts and live albums, he developed into an increasingly self-confident bandleader. With his 2018 LP Universal Beings, he - like Kamasi Washington, Shabaka Hutchings and Robert Glasper - expanded the audience for the genre. Inspired by and creatively reimagining jazz-poet and proto-rap icon Gil Scott-Heron's final album, 2020's We're New Again, though, was straight-out one of last year's most celebrated albums. This album that also employs folk traditions (including sampling his mother's music) perfectly demonstrates why McCraven is currently one of the biggest figures in spiritual jazz and avant-garde groove music His first concert in Hungary is a cause for celebration, and one to which he is also bringing a new album being released on the Blue Notes label.
Presented by: Müpa Budapest
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