Drummer and producer Makaya McCraven has a new and very special project on the horizon. We’re New Again sees the Chicago native reimagining hometown hero Gil Scott-Heron’s final album I’m New Here, the second full-length interpretation of the record following Jamie xx’s 2011 We’re New Here. Intermingling the original sessions with a mix of samples collected from his improvised … [Read more...]
Anthony Dean-Harris’ Favorite Jazz Albums of the Decade
There's a fullness in ten years. A lot of work, if rather relentlessly done, can really make a discernible impact. Ten years ago, folks were making all the talk as rather cyclically that jazz was dead. It was such an exhausting conversation. Folks were around making this music, obviously. It couldn't be that dead. The problem was in the awareness and the tweaking of the … [Read more...]
Stream Antoine Berjeaut’s ‘Moving Cities’ Album Featuring Makaya McCraven and Junius Paul
Trumpeter and producer Antoine Berjeaut hails from the Paris Superior Conservatory of Jazz Music. He leads the group Wasteland featuring Mike Ladd, and is an active member of the Surnatural Orchestra, Aloe Blacc’s band, and Julien Lourau’s Groove Retrievers, among others. A laureate of the French American Jazz Exchange in 2018, Berjeaut hooked up with jazz juggernaut Makaya … [Read more...]
Watch the Video for Trumpeter Marquis Hill’s “To You I Promise” from New Album ‘Love Tape’
Enlightened trumpeter and winner of the 2014 Monk Competition (or rather the newly-minted Hancock Competition) Marquis Hill is returning October 11th with a new album entitled Love Tape via the Black Unlimited Music Group label.Following along the lines of his 2017 EP Meditation Tape, Hill tackles the theme of love, more specifically self-love, with music inspired by a … [Read more...]
Makaya McCraven Performs at the 2019 Montreal International Jazz Festival
Drummer Makaya McCraven is the only musician to receive Nextbop’s Album of the Year on two separate occasions, first in 2015 for his sophomore effort In the Moment then again in 2018 for the highly praised Universal Beings. An exploit made the more remarkable considering the honor has only been awarded a total of nine times since our 2009 launch. On June 30th, McCraven, amidst … [Read more...]