Barcelona Jazz Fest Review: Makaya McCraven

Given the visceral power of drummer Makaya McCraven’s barnstorming set at Sala Apolo on November 7 (part of the wonderfully curated Barcelona Jazz Festival), I’m surprised to find myself opening this review by picking out his subtlety as the most compelling bit of the show. I’ve rarely seen a jazz drummer play with such stamina and ferocity—all sweat, sticks and strident solos—but it was the moments of tenderness that really stuck with me. There were points of real rhythmic clarity, where he utilized silence, the space in between the notes, as a counterpoint to the milieu of horns, keys and bass threatening to overpower him. It showed the kind of musician that McCraven is: deft, intelligent and certain in what it is he wants to create.

McCraven is a child of Chicago’s wonderfully fertile jazz scene—that hotbed of innovation since the 20s—and one of a multitude of modern voices who are taking the city’s music forward while paying respect to its storied history (see the excellent Chicago-born label International Anthem’s roster for further listening). 

The opener of the night came from McCraven’s new project of the same name, “In These Times.” It’s a song that sets out McCraven’s stall in the spiritual jazz realm that his city is so famous for, and was given to an enraptured crowd, hanging on his every tap as he grew a writhing forest of sound from the smallest of points. If this is what we can expect from the new project, it’s sure to be his most ambitious to date, following on from last year’s excellent Universal Beings (recorded with a typically eclectic and shifting lineup), and his 2015 breakthrough, In the Moment, a statement of intent of an album that put him on the map as a pioneer of modern jazz (I highly recommend getting your hands on the entire full session, triple LP recording of that album which came out this month if you get the chance).

The band that McCraven has assembled around him for this latest outing is a sure reason for its inevitable success. Marquis Hill’s tone on trumpet probably stood out the most; he creates those easy, velvet sonorities that seem to melt from the horn and right into your chest. Greg Spero’s fine work on keys mirrored this, a complement of dancing melodies and lively changes when McCraven wanted things turned up a notch. The rapture they all achieved on the final track, “The Bounce” from last year’s Where We Come From, recorded with the cream of London’s equally busy jazz scene, saw this mix between sustain and drive come to a head, McCraven leading the charge with utter elan.

In fact, I’ve rarely seen a drummer, or any band leader for that matter, play with such freedom, inventiveness and authority for such a length of time. This is not an exaggeration: while the rest of his quintet paused to let others take the floor, the iron lunged drummer continued apace. In sport you’d call it a captain’s performance, leading from the front and by example. Like any natural leader, his playing exudes charisma: inventive without gratuity, powerful without bravado.  

I frequently caught myself boring my eyes into his playing, and looked around to notice that not only was the rest of the audience, the entire band on stage were too. Each player seemed utterly in thrall, studying him carefully and duly changing their style with every swish, flick and flourish from their conductor behind the kit. And when things took a turn towards free jazz, as on the excellent “The New Untitled,” McCraven still somehow felt in charge and control, a rhythmic general demanding submission to his on stage whims, even as he allowed his band the illusion of freedom.

As jazz moves back into its rightful place as the art to showcase black creative excellence, it’s good to know that it’s not only horn players taking a lead. Modern jazz needs its Blakey’s and its Roach’s, and in Makaya McCraven, it may well have found one.

You can buy tickets for the Barcelona Jazz Festival through the website at jazz.barcelona. Look out for more of our reviews of this year’s festival coming up soon.

Harry Stott is a regular contributor to the Barcelona Metropolitan covering Brexit, local political and social issues as well as the music scene. He recently received a B.A. in music from the University of Leeds, and now writes and produces radio content for a number of organizations in Barcelona and beyond. You can read more of Harry's articles here.