We’re New Again: A Reimagining by Makaya McCraven

· by Alain Brunet

In 2010, the African-American poet, singer and activist resurfaced at the end of a painful
journey through the depths of drug abuse and prison. It was a spectacular but very short
rebirth – from premature wear and tear, Gil Scott-Heron moved on to another dimension on
May 27, 2011.

The reflection of an existence marbled with light and darkness, I’m New Here was one of the
great works recorded during the year of its release, a bittersweet assessment of an existence
rife with family dysfunctions, revolutionary hopes, euphoria, deviance, existential
disappointments, a checklist heralding premature death.


So what was there to add to this final offering? As did Jamie XX previously, Makaya McCraven tries to answer the
question here.


An icon of contemporary culture, if a rather paradoxical one, GSH remains a source of
inspiration for the percussionist, composer and improviser. Without a doubt one of the new
conceptual leaders of the music that can still be called jazz, McCraven sampled the work of
his elder in order to add new dimensions to it.Songs, poems and excerpts from conversations in I’m New Here are preserved, often in their original structures.

Around these, new grooves, harmonic extensions, arrangements, improvisations, and electronic textures appear, amounting to a jazzo-electro-nuevo remix conceived in a hybrid space of instrumental music and digital creation. If he had been in charge of producing the opus released 10 years earlier, McCraven would probably have done
it this way. In the service of the late Scott-Heron, once an artist of jazzy-soul allegiance, McCraven has
reiterated those characteristics, though in a contemporary context.

The ornamention here proves to be creative, well in tune with new compositional methods involving defragmentation,
filtering, treatment and reconstruction, without altering the foundations of the original.To do otherwise, McCraven would have had to deconstruct the entire corpus of songs and then integrate the materials into a work closer to his own. This would have led into uncharted territory, which he deliberately avoided. Well, we must observe however that he did transform the songs into his own compact and visionairy forms. We’re new again? Yes, anyway.

Latest 360 Content

A party with post-punk Brooklynites

A party with post-punk Brooklynites

FIRE! Orchestra at FIMAV: Power Trio Meets Canadian Community of Avant-Garde Players

FIRE! Orchestra at FIMAV: Power Trio Meets Canadian Community of Avant-Garde Players

Blondshell – If You Asked For a Picture

Blondshell – If You Asked For a Picture

Hitting a Fever Pitch at the Ribbon Skirt LP Launch 

Hitting a Fever Pitch at the Ribbon Skirt LP Launch 

Wu-Tang Clan & Mathematics – Black Samson, the Bastard Swordsman.

Wu-Tang Clan & Mathematics – Black Samson, the Bastard Swordsman.

Dalit Hadass Warshaw, Boston Modern Orchestra Project / Gil Rose – Sirens

Dalit Hadass Warshaw, Boston Modern Orchestra Project / Gil Rose – Sirens

Howard Shore/Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France – Shore : Anthology

Howard Shore/Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France – Shore : Anthology

Quatuor Diotima – Boulez : Livre pour quatuor

Quatuor Diotima – Boulez : Livre pour quatuor

LMNL – Rainbow

LMNL – Rainbow

Strat Andriotis – Exits

Strat Andriotis – Exits

Richard Reed Parry – The Actor

Richard Reed Parry – The Actor

Tamara Stefanovich – Organised Delirium

Tamara Stefanovich – Organised Delirium

Galan Trio – Embrace

Galan Trio – Embrace

Jack Van Zandt – A Chaos of Light and Motion

Jack Van Zandt – A Chaos of Light and Motion

Tommy Crane – Reality Curated: Live at Ursa

Tommy Crane – Reality Curated: Live at Ursa

Thomas DeLio – Anti-paysage

Thomas DeLio – Anti-paysage

No Hay Banda – Steven Kazuo Takasugi : Il Teatro Rosso

No Hay Banda – Steven Kazuo Takasugi : Il Teatro Rosso

Vancouver Contemporary Orchestra; Vancouver Chamber Choir – Christopher Tyler Nickel : Mass; Te Deum

Vancouver Contemporary Orchestra; Vancouver Chamber Choir – Christopher Tyler Nickel : Mass; Te Deum

Hypercube – The Force for Good

Hypercube – The Force for Good

PUP – Who Will Look After the Dogs?

PUP – Who Will Look After the Dogs?

Duo AYA – Cycles

Duo AYA – Cycles

Papillon Social Club – Dur de la feuille

Papillon Social Club – Dur de la feuille

Coalescent Quartet – The Wall Between Us

Coalescent Quartet – The Wall Between Us

Subscribe to our newsletter