*SOLD OUT* Makaya McCraven
Wednesday, 18 November 2026 · 21:00
Wednesday, 18 November 2026
22:00
Empty Bottle
Chicago
Map unavailable
1035 N. Western Ave., Chicago, United States
About *SOLD OUT* Makaya McCraven.
Doors: 8PM / Show: 9PM / 21+ Makaya McCraven is a prolific drummer, composer and producer. His newest album, In These Times, is the triumphant finale of a project 7+ years in the making. It's a preeminent addition to his already-acclaimed and extensive discography, and it's the album he's been trying to make since he started making records. McCraven believes that the word , "rdquo" -> jazz" is , "rdquo" -> insufficient, at best, to describe the phenomenon we're dealing with." The artist, who has been aptly called a , "rdquo" -> cultural synthesizer", has a unique gift for collapsing space, destroying borders and blending past, present, and future into poly-textural arrangements of post-genre, jazz-rooted 21st century folk music. Profiled in Vice, Rolling Stone, the Guardian, and NPR, among other publications, he and the music he makes today are at the very vanguard of that phenomenon. According to the New York Times, , "rdquo" -> McCraven has quietly become one of the best arguments for jazz's vitality". The artist explained to NPR in 2019, "I don't think what I'm doing is necessarily that far off of the legacy of jazz that I grew up in ... I think one of the things that gives it strength is that people want to argue over it. That's a good sign. That means there's life here." Born in Paris in the Autumn of 1983 to Hungarian singer and flutist Ágnes Zsigmondi and African-American expat jazz drummer Stephen McCraven, Makaya was raised in a vibrant, creative community in the Northampton, Massachusetts area, where his father often played with artists like saxophonist and ethnomusicologist Marion Brown, multi-instrumentalist Yusef Lateef, and saxophonist Archie Shepp, as well as a cadre of African Gnawa musicians. That scene, with its enticing blend of cultures, helped establish his philosophy around jazz as folk music. Meanwhile, his mother's music blended Eastern European folk traditions, concurrently shaping his conceptions about the role of music in building and reflecting communities.
More at Empty Bottle
-
Hard Country Honky Tonk with The Hoyle Brothers
on now · until FRI 18 DEC
-
Noche Eterna and Feeltrip present: WINGTIPS (10 Year Anniversary) / Blood Handsome / Slugscape / DJ Lidia Vomito
FRI 13 NOV
-
Handmade Market
SAT 14 NOV
-
*SOLD OUT* Heavens To Betsy / Bonfire Madigan
SAT 14 NOV
-
Heavens To Betsy
SUN 15 NOV
-
FREE MONDAY w/ Rent Control featuring Nonnie Parry / Twice Told Tale / Timelife / Tender Object Systems
MON 16 NOV