Guiding the undulating, polyrhythmic, genre-ambiguous flow of drummer
Makaya McCraven's ever-evolving "organic beat music," is a strategy not far removed from the one employed by
Teo Macero and
Miles Davis on
Bitches Brew and subsequent dates: Here, moments from continuous improvised performances are digitally looped, cut, spliced, and edited into entirely new compositions.
McCraven has been developing the approach for some time, though it came to fruition on 2015's brilliant
In the Moment, culled from nearly 48 hours of live improvised performance at a single venue over a year, then processed and remixed into 19 individual pieces.
McCraven takes a leap further out on the double-length
Universal Beings. The set was recorded in four cities (New York, Chicago, London, and Los Angeles) with four ensembles. The players on these include bassist and fellow Chicagoan
Junius Paul, cellist and former Chicagoan
Tomeka Reid, U.K.-based saxophonists
Nubya Garcia and
Shabaka Hutchings, L.A. violist/arranger
Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, percussionist
Carlos Nino, and Chicago ex-pat and current Angeleno guitarist
Jeff Parker, to name a few.