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- Summary: The latest full-length release for Chicago-based jazz composer/producer Makaya McCraven features contributions from Marquis Hill, Jeff Parker, Junius Paul, Joel Ross, and Brandee Younger.
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- Record Label: Nonesuch
- Genre(s): Jazz
- More Details and Credits »
Score distribution:
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Positive: 11 out of 11
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Mixed: 0 out of 11
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Negative: 0 out of 11
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Sep 23, 2022In These Times accumulated an arresting abundance of ideas, sounds, textures, and styles. The album is its own jazz labyrinth, and as such is destined for repeated listening and startling discovery.
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Sep 21, 2022There’s a tenderness to the way he puts the instruments in conversation with one another, drawing out Younger’s harp and Macie Stewart’s melancholy violin solo. That’s ultimately what makes this record so powerful, even if you’re not familiar with its touchstones: by colliding the past with the present, McCraven makes a point of making progress. [Oct 2022, p.24]
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Sep 21, 2022It works wonderfully camping on a relaxed beach or in the most ostentatious concert venue, worthy of rigorous intellectual inspection yet just as easy to get high and chill to. ... It gives something wholly original to the culture in a way similar to what Will 'Quantic' Holland did when he launched the Quantic Soul Orchestra in 2003.
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MojoSep 21, 2022Where his breakthrough LPS deftly shaped improvisations into compositions, In These Times reverses the trick - adding textural depth and layer upon layer of intrigue to McCraven's emotionally-charged meditations on life and identity. [Oct 2022, p.80]
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Sep 27, 2022In These Times is more elegant, and more ambitious.
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Oct 24, 2022The strength of In These Times is in its considered arrangements. The melodies take center stage rather than solely the kinetic rhythmic attack McCraven can unleash whenever he pleases. And when he pleases, his percussion charts can hit with a ferocity that shudders like drum licks plucked from a lengthy Fela-meets James-Brown after-hours live session.
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Oct 7, 2022A challenging yet continually beautiful project, ‘In These Times’ contains a terrific sense of unity, one that belies the lengthy manner of its gestation. An ode to community, it’s a record that carries a very special charm.
Score distribution:
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Positive: 2 out of 2
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Mixed: 0 out of 2
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Negative: 0 out of 2
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Oct 10, 2022
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Aug 24, 2023
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