Drummer Makaya McCraven, The 'Beat Scientist,' Talks About His New Album
The jazz drummer records live performances and then manipulates those recordings in creative ways. His new album pulls from the pool of recordings that shaped his 2018 work, Universal Beings.
Makaya McCraven calls himself a beat scientist, so it's no surprise when you ask about his childhood, you hear he was pretty much surrounded by rhythm.
"Rehearsals at our house, banging on drums since I was able to hold a drumstick, sleeping in my dad's bass drum," he recalls. "There was no front head, and a little pillow in there. And you could just kinda go in and lay down if you're small enough."
Birds were singing on his mom's porch in the woods of Western Massachusetts when he connected for the interview. McCraven grew up there and also all over, living an international
