In a new era of genre-bending music, Makaya McCraven pushes the boundaries of sound and rhythm to create categories of his own. Called “a sound visionary” (jazzinchicago.org) who is “not your everyday jazz drummer” (thewordisbond.com), McCraven is a beat scientist. Whether behind the drums or in the lab, mixmaster Makaya McCraven moves between genres at lightning speed. “You are listening to one incredible musician. His style and sound is unique, a heady, skillful, sophisticated and boldly uncompromising mix of jazz and hiphop” (UKVibe). Makaya’s breakthrough debut 2XLP, “In the Moment” (International Anthem, 2015) has garnered international attention, earning critical acclaim from The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, BBC (Gilles Peterson’s “Album of the Week”), and NPR. “In the Moment” is one of DownBeat and Pop Matters’ Top Jazz Albums of 2015. UK’s The Wire writes, “While Teo Macero’s work with Miles [Davis] might seem the obvious reference point, ‘In The Moment’ is closer in spirit to Madlib and J Dilla.” Jazz Times calls “In The Moment” “mesmerizing” and “an important document.”
 
Born in Paris in 1983 and raised in the Pioneer Valley of Massachusetts to jazz drummer Stephen McCraven (Sam Rivers, Archie Shepp) and Hungarian folk singer Agnes Zsigmondi, Makaya was exposed to broad ranges of influences from a young age. Makaya formulated his musical identity under the mentorship of jazz legends Archie Shepp, Marion Brown, and Yusef Lateef. In high school, McCraven cofounded Cold Duck Complex, a jazz hip hop band with a strong following in the Northeast through his years as a student at UMASS Amherst where he studied Jazz. At this time, Makaya played locally and opened for Wu-Tang Clan, Rhazel, Digable Planets, The Pharcyde, 50 Cent, Mixmaster Mike, and The Wailers. In 2007, Makaya McCraven moved to Chicago and quickly established himself in the city’s rich music scene as he played with Bobby Broom, Corey Wilkes, Willie Pickens, Occidental Brothers, Marquis Hill, Jeff Parker and others. 2012 proved a landmark year for McCraven: he released his debut album, “Split Decision” (Chicago Sessions) and led a 13-piece All-Star band as the featured “Made in Chicago” performance at Millennium Park’s Pritzker Pavilion.
 
McCraven has played in some of the world’s best clubs, theaters, festivals and arenas. Makaya has shared the stage with a host of great artists such as Charles Neville, Lionel Louke, Soulive, Marcus Strickland, and Bernie Worrell. He has toured extensively, including a 52-city national tour opening for Steely Dan with The Bobby Broom OrganiSation. Makaya endorses Vic Firth sticks and Istanbul AGOP Cymbals.
 
Makaya McCraven layers his extensive experience with hip hop bands, African dance bands, Hungarian folk music, and indie rock on top of a deep history of “straight ahead” jazz, improvisation, and the avantgarde with beats, sampling, and electronics as a form of unique self expression.
 
In 2016 McCraven will perform at the Winter Jazz Fest in New York City and will embark in the Spring on his first headlining European tour.
 
“No longer are we seeing jazz musicians experimenting with a new genre (hip hop) that they find interesting (or vice versa). Now what we’re seeing are jazz musicians who were heavily influenced by hip hop in their most formative years, just as much as they were influenced by jazz or any other genre. This creates a different kind of music. These cats aren’t ‘blending’ jazz and hip hop; for them, these genres are inseparable. They can’t play one without playing the other.” (wordisbond.com)
 
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Boca Negra is the 5th release of the critically acclaimed Chicago Underground Duo and 11th release by the Chicago Underground Collective. As with the previous four Duo records it contains both composed and improvised music. The recording contains powerful grooves along with ambient sound structures, folk song simplicity and polyrhythmic bursts of energy with lyrical melodic vignettes. It also combines high energy music with slow moving ballads. Boca Negra was recorded in Sao Paulo, Brazil at Rocha Studios making it the first record not created in Chicago. It is also the first record that contains a “cover”, that being Ornette Coleman’s “Broken Shadows”. This record has been three years in the making and took so long to make due partly to both Chad and Rob’s frantic touring schedules (Rob is the leader of the Exploding Star Orchestra, Sao Paulo Underground, Mandarin Movie, and more while Chad performs with Iron and Wine, Marc Ribot, and so forth).
 
The title “Boca Negra” means “Black Mouth”, a term coined in the Tenerife Canary Islands evoking the idea of an endless intake of information and also harks to the mouth of the volcano Tiede. The cover photo of the record was taken at the Dead Sea. Keeping those two things in mind, one of the goals of the record was to present the listener with the familiar in unfamiliar ways. “Broken Shadows” for instance, has Chad playing the drums and vibraphone simultaneously. He plays just the A section or verse while Rob plays the bridge section or chorus of the tune. The form is repeated over and over but some times the bridge is elongated, sometimes it is shortened and sometimes it is skipped all together, evoking the idea of “Broken Shadows”. There are improvisations that sound like composed songs in which Chad’s mbira and Rob’s cornet are played through various filters often times sounding like different instruments all together and composed songs that sound like improvisations of folk songs. “Confliction” was probably the most difficult song to record. The bass line flows with ease but the time signature varies between 17/8 and 4/4. As with previous records the goal was not to show virtuoso technique, but rather to present the listener with an emotional experience that transcends the idea of genre or label.
 
Boca Negra was produced by the inimitable Matt Lux. Matt is the bass player for Iron and Wine, Isotope 217, Mandarin Movie and the Exploding Star Orchestra. Matt and Chad have know each other over 20 years and Chad has said that it was Matt who originally got him interested in playing the drums, so both Rob and Chad were honored to have him on board. Most of the sounds on the record which are not the drums or cornet were programed with computer software. This is the first record in which Chad utilized his programing skills (the previous four records had Rob using his computer).
 
Chicago Underground Duo has been part of a new generation of music improvisers that emerged in Chicago in the 1990’s. Their live shows have often been described as astounding and they plan to tour both the U.S. and abroad this summer in support of the new record.
 
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Jaimie branch is a trumpeter working in the areas of composition and improvisation.
 
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