Makaya McCraven

Drones

Terrace Martin · 2021

The musicians on DronesDronesTerrace Martin · 2021 (2021) form the core of post-2010s jazz across LA and Chicago. Where Brainfeeder-adjacent production instincts meet collective improvisation — this is one of the defining sites of where jazz moved next.

Universal Beings

Makaya McCraven · 2018

Trust in the Lifeforce of the Deep Mystery

The Comet Is Coming · 2019

The London jazz scene of the 2010s produced a generation unbothered by American jazz orthodoxy. Shabaka HutchingsShabaka Hutchingsシャバカ・ハッチングス led three simultaneous bands — Sons of Kemet (founded 2013), The Comet Is Coming, and Shabaka and the Ancestors. Nubya GarciaNubya Garciaヌバイア・ガルシア brought warmth and directness to the tenor saxophone.

— We Out Here: A LDN Jazz Story (documentary), Fabrice Bourgelle, 2018

Deciphering the Message

Makaya McCraven · 2021

Contours

Sam Rivers · 1967

Speak No Evil

Wayne Shorter · 1966

Straight Life

Freddie Hubbard · 1970

The bass intro that defines Freddie Hubbard's Red Clay (1970) wasn't Hubbard's — bassist Ron Carter invented it on the spot because Freddie never brought the part. "Luckily, the right note hit at the right time," Carter said. The hook that became the song's signature was an improvisation forced by a missing chart.

— Statement stmt-ron-carter-on-freddie-hubbard