Chicago drummer, composer and producer Makaya McCraven is coming to the Wortham Theater Center at 501 Texas Ave in downtown Houston, where DACAMERA will present the musician known for blending live performance with electronic manipulation and looping. Tickets for the show run from $53.50 to $83.50.
DACAMERA describes McCraven as a “beat scientist,” a drummer, composer and producer whom the presenter calls a maverick musician defining what jazz means now, according to CultureMap Houston. Full event details are posted on DACAMERA's website, which notes McCraven has a gift for blending past, present and future while marrying live performances with electronic manipulation and looping.
That description tracks with how McCraven has built his career. His critically lauded debut, In the Moment, made Top 10 lists in DownBeat and PopMatters, and his later recordings Universal Beings and In These Times have received almost universal acclaim, per DACAMERA's artist page.
A Drummer Who Resists the Jazz Label
Despite the acclaim, McCraven has never been eager to be boxed in by genre. The Chicago-based musician sometimes refers to himself as a jazz musician but refuses to be limited by that label, according to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra's profile of him. That same profile traces how his sound evolved: he has said that at a certain point he started to incorporate more electronic, textural and sonic elements into his playing and his output as an artist.
McCraven's appetite for collaboration extends well beyond Chicago. He has said he is very interested in meeting more musicians from other parts of the world and getting to collaborate with people across borders, and the CSO piece notes he has performed in São Paulo, Australia, South Africa, Jakarta and Japan, in addition to extensive touring across Europe.
Reworking Jazz History and Assembling New Sounds
Some of McCraven's most distinctive work involves reinterpreting the jazz canon itself. On Deciphering the Message, he added his own commentary, footnotes and alternate views to 13 classic, mainly hard-bop tracks by artists including Hank Mobley, Dexter Gordon and Horace Silver, according to a review from Newcity published in January 2022. His collaborators on that project included vibraphonist Joel Ross, trumpeter Marquis Hill, guitarists Jeff Parker and Matt Gold, bassist Junius Paul, alto saxophonist Greg Ward and De’Sean Jones, the same review reported.
The Newcity review also noted that McCraven's presence on those reworked tracks comes through in adventurous new grooves, sampling, looping and, in many cases, an abandonment of the original musical form. It is that same restless, collage-like approach that has carried into his more recent output; per a conversation published on the Substack newsletter The Gig, McCraven's most recent album is a double LP called Off the Record, which assembles four EPs he released the previous year.
What to Know Before the Show
The Houston performance is subject to change due to weather or other concerns, and attendees should check with the venue or organization to confirm the event is taking place as scheduled, per the event listing. Anyone planning to attend can find event information directly through DACAMERA's jazz series page.
