Makaya McCraven's parents - Zsigmondi, who defected from Hungary in 1979, and the American jazz drummer Stephen McCraven (the drummer for Archie Shepp, among other activities) met in Paris, where Makaya was born in 1983, before they all relocated to the US three years later. McCraven began making a name for himself on the Chicago jazz scene in the 2000s among avant-garde musicians breaking down the orthodox limits of the genre. Through his sensational club concerts and live albums, he developed into an increasingly self-confident bandleader. With his 2018 LP Universal Beings, he - like Kamasi Washington, Shabaka Hutchings and Robert Glasper - expanded the audience for the genre. Inspired by and creatively reimagining jazz-poet and proto-rap icon Gil Scott-Heron's final album, 2020's We're New Again, though, was straight-out one of last year's most celebrated albums. This album that also employs folk traditions (including sampling his mother's music) perfectly demonstrates why McCraven is currently one of the biggest figures in spiritual jazz and avant-garde groove music His first concert in Hungary is a cause for celebration, and one to which he is also bringing a new album being released on the Blue Notes label.

Presented by: Müpa Budapest