Cheltenham Jazz Festival: Makaya McCraven @ DEYA Arena, Cheltenham - May 3

Makaya McCraven (drums, electronics); Junius Paul (bass, electronics); Marquis Hill (trumpet, electronics)

Opener, Away, begins with jingling bells, trap cymbals and bubbling effects. Ghosts of cymbals, ghosts of drums slowly coalesce before the bass leads us out and a haunting trumpet line is wavered by the electronics. Busy hustling, restless drums support a trumpet that issues notes that are slingshots into a void. The bass erupts and the drums follow into a freer world. They go straight into a drum led hopping funk piece with a rock solid bass and rich round trumpet notes, more Nils Petter Molvær than Miles, bass and drums as subtle as a speeding truck, albeit one it’s a joy to be stood in front of. Longer trumpet notes, hypnotic bass and majestic drums support before the trumpet heats into a boiling fury before McCraven explodes on the drums to close.

McCraven explains that most of what they were playing was “On the record, Off The Record.” Clearly, he liked that line as he would go on to use it a further four or so times during the short set. For the third piece we got some mellowed down blues, with more rock solid bass and heavy stepping drums, McCraven riding the cymbal before he explodes again covering the kit, powerful and propulsive whilst Hill’s trumpet wails out. A popping bass solo, punching and developing melodic lines is fleet footed and danceable, supported by McCraven rattling around his kit. A long, wailing trumpet call is manipulated into a howl of rage, McCraven drives on furiously from behind the kit. A sudden mellowing back for about ten seconds before the train slows down to the original funk line.

McCraven pauses between songs to explain his composing process, which he describes as collaboration and improvisation, after which he takes the tapes away and loops it up and chops it up. “Improvisation,” he says, “is a celebration of life.” (The album credits list him and his collaborators as composers and performers so he doesn’t bag all the credit.) Next up is Three Fifths a Man, a delicate, lighter piece off his 2015 album In The Moment and not on the record Off The Record.

Sweet Stuff  is on the record etc. and opens with a gentle caressed bass, muted trumpet and McCraven back riding the cymbals before he tumbles into working the full kit; he’s the most exciting drummer I’ve seen in a long time, especially on such a small kit. A simple trumpet line is repeated and the notes are stretched and echoed with electronics. Then, finally, it takes flight and soars over a solid groove with McCraven settling into a supporting, though still astounding, beat with the crowd yelling him on as they fall into a reggae lilt. The trumpet floats over the top FX’d into swirls over rim shots and delicate cymbals.

A bass solo, intimidating, threatening, as heavy as the weather, is treated to be even more foreboding, echoed and ominous and into This Place, That Place which is a bit of a come down into some straight ahead rolling bebop built up off the bass with a floating stinging trumpet lead . McCraven is restrained and regular until he lets himself go again. He grows his solo organically from cymbals and bass drums, all introspection, so simple compared to what he has played previously, as if he’s taking us through the extremes of the voices of the kit with no heavy hitting, showing that he can be both frantic and delicate at times; the trumpet and bass play heavy footsteps around and above. The trumpet is romantic over heavy, industrial bass and drums like a butterfly in a steel mill; it howls and wails, fighting back against the weight. In These Times is the title track of a 2022 album and opens with hollow, echoing trumpet, urban motorway running bass and settles into a mournful lament full of blues tragedy. Waves of drums roll in and out, crashing in and receding behind Hill’s playing.

Closer, News Feed, is jumping funk with a soul drenched trumpet that stops, starts and then drives on. Paul’s knotty bass seems to be having a conversation only with itself and there’s more rattling drums from McCraven and another explosive close, taunted by Hill’s trumpet as if to say ‘Come on, if you’re big enough.’

Definitely top gig of the festival so far.

Just for the record, at the end of the gig Steve and I rushed over to the Rough Trade tent to see if they were selling the record Off The Record  and we each bought a copy and, again, for the record, most of what they had played was on the record Off The Record. Dave Sayer