Makaya McCraven is a prolific drummer, composer and producer. His newest album, In These Times, is the triumphant finale of a project 7+ years in the making. Itâs a preeminent addition to his already-acclaimed and extensive discography, and itâs the album heâs been trying to make since he started making records.
McCraven believes that the word âjazzâ is âinsufficient, at best, to describe the phenomenon weâre dealing with.â The artist, who has been aptly called a âcultural synthesizerâ, has a unique gift for collapsing space, destroying borders and blending past, present, and future into poly-textural arrangements of post-genre, jazz-rooted 21st century folk music.
The artist explained to NPR in 2019, "I don't think what I'm doing is necessarily that far off of the legacy of jazz that I grew up in ... I think one of the things that gives it strength is that people want to argue over it. That's a good sign. That means there's life here."