{"title":"Makaya McCraven","description":"\u003cp data-start=\"184\" data-end=\"835\"\u003eMakaya McCraven is a Chicago-based drummer, producer and composer celebrated for reshaping jazz with a hip hop–infused, “organic beat music” approach. Blending live improvisation with studio editing, his albums blur the lines between performance and production, creating a sound that feels both rooted in tradition and forward-looking. From breakthrough releases like \u003cem data-start=\"552\" data-end=\"567\"\u003eIn the Moment\u003c\/em\u003e to acclaimed projects on Blue Note such as \u003cem data-start=\"611\" data-end=\"636\"\u003eDeciphering the Message\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem data-start=\"641\" data-end=\"657\"\u003eIn These Times\u003c\/em\u003e, McCraven’s vinyl catalogue captures the pulse of contemporary jazz. Explore our selection of Makaya McCraven records and hear why he is one of today’s most vital bandleaders.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"makaya-mccraven-in-these-times","title":"Makaya McCraven – In These Times (2022 International Anthem \/ Nonesuch \/ XL LP Vinyl)","description":"\u003cp data-start=\"217\" data-end=\"531\"\u003eReleased in 2022, \u003cem data-start=\"235\" data-end=\"251\"\u003eIn These Times\u003c\/em\u003e is the long-awaited project from drummer, composer, and producer \u003cstrong data-start=\"317\" data-end=\"336\"\u003eMakaya McCraven\u003c\/strong\u003e, a leading voice in today’s progressive jazz movement. Years in the making, the album weaves together live performance, studio craft, and McCraven’s signature approach to “organic beat music.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"533\" data-end=\"807\"\u003eWith strings, horns, and layered textures supporting his rhythm-forward vision, McCraven creates a sound that is both rooted in jazz tradition and pushing far beyond it. The result is cinematic, soulful, and deeply of the moment — a statement on art, time, and resilience.\u003cstrong data-start=\"809\" data-end=\"832\"\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"1031\" data-end=\"1175\"\u003eAmbitious yet deeply listenable, \u003cem data-start=\"1064\" data-end=\"1080\"\u003eIn These Times\u003c\/em\u003e stands as McCraven’s most fully realized work and a defining statement of contemporary jazz.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"XL Recordings","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42476968214587,"sku":null,"price":60.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0630\/3203\/3339\/files\/73276879-4ca1-48de-af0b-8c7f04ba43f4_thumbnail_4096.webp?v=1758456612"},{"product_id":"makaya-mccraven-off-the-record-2025-international-anthem-2lp-vinyl","title":"Makaya McCraven - Off The Record (2025 International Anthem 2LP Vinyl)","description":"\u003cp\u003eMakaya McCraven's innovative approach to contemporary jazz reaches new heights with \u003cem\u003eOff The Record\u003c\/em\u003e, a sprawling double album that compiles four distinct EPs spanning a decade of live performances across three continents. Released on 17 October 2025 through International Anthem Recording Company and XL Recordings, this collection showcases McCraven's unique \"organic beat music\" concept: recording live performances, then extensively editing, overdubbing, and recomposing the material in his Chicago studio into something entirely new. The result bridges acoustic jazz tradition with electronic production techniques, creating a sound that feels simultaneously spontaneous and meticulously crafted.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEach of the four sides represents a different performance context and ensemble configuration. Side A, \"PopUp Shop\", captures a 2015 Venice, California performance at the Del Monte Speakeasy featuring vibraphonist Justefan, bassist Benjamin J. Shepherd, and guitarist Jeff Parker. Recorded as part of the RAWS:LA series presented by Kingo Hippo and Grown Kids Radio, these tracks were then edited and overdubbed the very next day in an alley behind Townhouse on Windward Avenue, demonstrating McCraven's ability to work anywhere inspiration strikes.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSide B, \"Hidden Out!\", documents a 2017 performance at Chicago's intimate Hideout venue featuring bassist Junius Paul and guitarist Jeff Parker. These tracks underwent an extraordinary transformation, with editing, additional composition, and overdubs completed between 2017 and 2025 at McCraven's own MakayaMusic Studios. This eight-year gestation period allowed McCraven to continually refine and reimagine the original performances, adding layers of drums, keyboards, percussion, vibraphone, and guitar to the foundation.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSide C, \"Techno Logic\", features UK tubist and electronics artist Theon Cross and Chicago multi-instrumentalist Ben LaMar Gay across performances recorded at Worldwide FM in London (2017), 90mil in Berlin (2024), and Nublu in New York (2025). This international collaboration spans eight years and three cities, with McCraven weaving together disparate performances into a coherent suite that explores the intersection of jazz improvisation and electronic textures.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSide D, \"The People's Mixtape\", represents the most recent material, performed in January 2025 at Brooklyn's Public Records with vibraphonist Joel Ross, trumpeter Marquis Hill, bassist Junius Paul, and synthesizer\/percussion artist Jeremiah Chiu. Edited throughout 2025, these tracks are the freshest on the album, capturing McCraven's current ensemble sound while benefiting from his increasingly sophisticated production techniques.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThroughout all 22 tracks, McCraven's drumming anchors the music with both propulsive energy and subtle detail. But his role extends far beyond traditional drumming - as producer, editor, and overdub artist adding keyboards, synth, percussion, guitar, and vibraphone, he functions as auteur, shaping live performances into finished compositions that honour improvisation's spontaneity while achieving studio production's polish.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe personnel across these sessions reads like a who's who of contemporary jazz innovation: guitarist Jeff Parker (of Tortoise and The Chicago Underground), vibraphonists Joel Ross and Justefan, tubist Theon Cross (Sons of Kemet), multi-instrumentalist Ben LaMar Gay, bassist Junius Paul, trumpeter Marquis Hill, and synthesist Jeremiah Chiu. Each brings distinctive voice to McCraven's vision while submitting to his transformative production approach.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"International Anthem","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43075482026043,"sku":null,"price":70.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0630\/3203\/3339\/files\/075597894509.jpg?v=1765669586"},{"product_id":"makaya-mccraven-in-the-moment-2025-international-anthem-2lp-reissue","title":"Makaya McCraven - In The Moment (2025 International Anthem 2LP Reissue)","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe album that established Makaya McCraven's revolutionary \"organic beat music\" concept, \u003cem\u003eIn The Moment\u003c\/em\u003e captures the Chicago drummer and producer transforming live jazz performances into meticulously crafted compositions through editing, looping, and overdubbing. Originally released in 2015 as McCraven's breakthrough statement and now reissued in 2025 as part of International Anthem Recording Company's IA11 Edition series, this double album showcases the process that would define his career: recording spontaneous group improvisation, then reimagining it through studio production techniques borrowed from hip-hop, creating music that honours jazz tradition while sounding utterly contemporary.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRecorded live at various Chicago venues and then extensively reworked at McCraven's studio, In The Moment features an exceptional cast of Chicago jazz musicians including guitarist Jeff Parker (Tortoise, The Chicago Underground), vibraphonist Justefan, trumpeter Marquis Hill, tenor saxophonists De'Sean Jones and Tony Barba (the latter adding electronics), and a rotating bass section of Junius Paul, Matt Ulery, and Joshua Abrams. McCraven's process involves recording these musicians improvising live, then deconstructing the performances, isolating compelling moments, creating loops, adding beats and overdubs, and reassembling the material into new compositions that maintain improvisation's energy while achieving studio production's precision.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe album opens with \"Exploration Intro\", immediately establishing the aesthetic: acoustic instruments rendered with beatmaker's sensibility, loops creating hypnotic repetition, yet retaining jazz's swing and spontaneity. \"The Jaunt\" and \"Slightest Right\" demonstrate how McCraven can take extended improvisations and distill them into focused, groove-oriented pieces that work both as jazz compositions and as instrumental hip-hop beats.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Lonely\" and \"Gnawa\" (the latter referencing North African trance music traditions) showcase McCraven's interest in global rhythmic traditions and their intersection with jazz and hip-hop. \"On The Spot\", \"Butterscotch\", and \"TomTom\" maintain the album's momentum through the first disc, each track offering distinctive textures and grooves while cohering into a continuous listening experience.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Three Fifths A Man\", referencing the US Constitution's horrific calculation of enslaved people as three-fifths of a person for representation purposes, brings political consciousness to the proceedings. McCraven, like many in Chicago's contemporary jazz scene, views music as inseparable from social justice and Black liberation struggles.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe second disc's title track \"In The Moment\" encapsulates McCraven's philosophy: capturing the fleeting magic of live improvisation while using studio techniques to frame and enhance those moments. \"Quartz\", \"Just Stay Right There\", and the pointedly titled \"Untitled\" continue exploring the intersection of composition and improvisation, structure and spontaneity.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Time Travel\" and \"The Encore\" near the album's close before \"The Drop\" and \"Finances\" conclude with characteristic McCraven grooves that blur boundaries between jazz, hip-hop, electronic music, and experimental production. Throughout all 18 tracks, McCraven's drumming anchors the music with both technical sophistication and deep pocket, his production adding layers of sounds, beats, loops, and overdubbed elements that transform the source material.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis 2025 reissue, part of International Anthem's IA11 Edition series, brings McCraven's breakthrough album back into circulation for listeners who've discovered him through later releases like \u003cem\u003eUniversal Beings\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eWe're New Again\u003c\/em\u003e, or \u003cem\u003eIn These Times\u003c\/em\u003e. The double LP format allows proper space for these compositions to breathe, maintaining the album's original sequencing and flow.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"International Anthem","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43076922310715,"sku":null,"price":55.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0630\/3203\/3339\/files\/click_2ad2b681_thumbnail_4096.webp?v=1765796621"}],"url":"https:\/\/lushliferecords.com.au\/collections\/makaya-mccraven.oembed","provider":"Lush Life Records","version":"1.0","type":"link"}