Makaya McCraven: Deciphering the Message [BLUE NOTE]

Why you'll love it

This EU pressing comes with a printed insert. Chicago drummer and producer Makaya McCraven chops up the Blue Note vaults, adds new playing from Joel Ross, Jeff Parker and Marquis Hill, and sequences it all like one continuous live set.

This edition

• Printed insert
• Pressed in the EU

About the album

Blue Note's catalogue is the sort of thing people tend to handle with white gloves. Makaya McCraven, a Paris-born, Massachusetts-raised drummer who made his name in Chicago, had a different idea: sample it, loop it, play along with it and bring it into the present, the same trick he pulled on Gil Scott-Heron's final album with We're New Again.

"A Slice of the Top" rebuilds Hank Mobley, "Sunset" and "Monaco" flip Kenny Dorham, "When Your Lover Has Gone" and "Mr. Jin" rework Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers, and "Ecaroh" (Horace spelled backwards) reworks Horace Silver. Bobby Hutcherson, Clifford Brown, Dexter Gordon, Kenny Burrell, Jack Wilson and Eddie Gale are all in the mix too. Joel Ross on vibes, Marquis Hill on trumpet, Greg Ward on alto, De'Sean Jones on tenor and flute, Jeff Parker and Matt Gold on guitar and Junius Paul on bass add fresh layers, and "Frank's Tune" becomes a two-step groove with Parker and Jones out front.

McCraven said he hoped listeners would go back and explore the originals. Fair warning: that's how a single LP turns into a whole shelf.

Also at Kops: more Makaya McCraven on vinyl · browse Modern Jazz

Tracklist

Listen

On Blue Note, the 2021 album.