American drummer, composer and band leader Makaya McCraven spoiled jazzophiles last summer during his three concerts at the Montreal International Jazz Festival and is once again generous with this sumptuous In These Times, which took him almost seven years to compose, record and assemble in the studio. A jewel matched with orchestrations of strings coating his grooves from the first seven minutes of this album, where the jazz vision of the musician is combined with contemporary, minimalist and hip-hop music. On The Fours and High Fivesin the first half of the album, McCraven knits stunning rhythms (what finesse, what intelligence on This Place That Place !), tearing the rhythm of rap from its usual signature to impose on it composed measures as complex as they are sophisticated. Invited collaborators enhance the proposal, starting with harpist Brandee Younger, whose playing evokes the spiritual dimension of Dorothy Ashby’s jazz. Add strong themes (like that of Dream Another). This is an album to cherish.
Click here for an excerpt.
To see in video