A beat-weaving producer, composer and drummer; one of the leading figures in the next evolution of jazz; a sonic alchemist whose craft sits at the centre of rhythm, composition and pulse.
Born in Paris to a jazz-drummer father and a folk-singer mother, McCraven moved to the United States with his family at a young age. Growing up, his home was surrounded by jazz legends Archie Shepp, Marion Brown and Yusef Lateef in his father’s circle. Although raised within jazz and folk traditions, he was ultimately a 90s child: deeply shaped by the old-school hip-hop culture that placed sampling at its core. He founded the jazz hip-hop group Cold Duck Complex, and with them warmed up stages for veterans like The Pharcyde, Digable Planets and Wu-Tang Clan. In 2006, he relocated to Chicago, where he found himself at the heart of a jazz scene far ahead of its time. He performed alongside the scene’s standard-bearers including Willie Pickens, Marquis Hill and Jeff Parker. He released his first album Split Decision in 2012, followed in 2015 by In The Moment, which was listed among the best jazz albums of the year by major music publications from NPR to the Los Angeles Times. His presence in hip-hop was so encompassing that long after his 90s upbringing, his album Universal Beings, featuring contributions from Nubya Garcia, Shabaka Hutchings and Tomeka Reid, would be titled ‘the jazz world’s equivalent of Dr. Dre’s The Chronic’. With a sound drawing from hip-hop, African dance music and indie rock, he proved again and again that he was not a jazz drummer you could meet every day. In 2020, he re-imagined Gil Scott-Heron’s final album I’m New Here under the title We’re New Again: A Reimagining by Makaya McCraven, giving the record a striking new identity through his rhythmic and production-led lens. In 2022, he released his latest long play In These Times, consisting entirely of new tracks. In the final quarter of 2025, he released four EPs – Techno Logic, The People’s Mixtape, Hidden Out! and PopUp Shop – reminding the world once again that he remains one of the leading figures shaping the future of jazz.
On International Jazz Day, the Salon İKSV stage will transform into a portal opening onto the future of jazz, without letting go of a salute to the legacy of jazz.
Tickets: 1050 TL, Eczacıbaşı Youth Ticket: 50 TL
Priority sale for Tulip Card members: 6 January 2026, Tuesday, 10.30
General sale: 7 January 2026, Wednesday, 10.30
Garanti BBVA credit card holders enjoy 20% off on tickets for the Makaya McCraven concert, as part of the Garanti BBVA International Jazz Day Concerts.
Doors open: 20.30
Concert: 21.30
This event is 18+ only.
