*SOLD OUT* Makaya McCraven
- When
- Wednesday, November 18, 2026 9:00 PM
- Where
- Empty Bottle, Chicago
- Age limit: 21+
Still 47 days until the concert.

Artist
About the concert
Makaya McCraven plays at Empty Bottle in Chicago on Wednesday, November 18, 2026 at 9:00 PM. Makaya McCraven last played Chicago a few weeks ago, at Garfield Park Conservatory.
Doors: 8PM / Show: 9PM / 21+ Makaya McCraven is a prolific drummer, composer and producer. His newest album, In These Times, is the triumphant finale of a project 7+ years in the making. It's a preeminent addition to his already-acclaimed and extensive discography, and it's the album he's been trying to make since he started making records. McCraven believes that the word , "rdquo" -> jazz" is , "rdquo" -> insufficient, at best, to describe the phenomenon we're dealing with." The artist, who has been aptly called a , "rdquo" -> cultural synthesizer", has a unique gift for collapsing space, destroying borders and blending past, present, and future into poly-textural arrangements of post-genre, jazz-rooted 21st century folk music. Profiled in Vice, Rolling Stone, the Guardian, and NPR, among other publications, he and the music he makes today are at the very vanguard of that phenomenon. According to the New York Times, , "rdquo" -> McCraven has quietly become one of the best arguments for jazz's vitality". The artist explained to NPR in 2019, "I don't think what I'm doing is necessarily that far off of the legacy of jazz that I grew up in ... I think one of the things that gives it strength is that people want to argue over it. That's a good sign. That means there's life here." Born in Paris in the Autumn of 1983 to Hungarian singer and flutist Ágnes Zsigmondi and African-American expat jazz drummer Stephen McCraven, Makaya was raised in a vibrant, creative community in the Northampton, Massachusetts area, where his father often played with artists like saxophonist and ethnomusicologist Marion Brown, multi-instrumentalist Yusef Lateef, and saxophonist Archie Shepp, as well as a cadre of African Gnawa musicians. That scene, with its enticing blend of cultures, helped establish his philosophy around jazz as folk music. Meanwhile, his mother's music blended Eastern European folk traditions, concurrently shaping his conceptions about the role of music in building and reflecting communities.
Age limit: 21+
Frequently asked questions
- When is Makaya McCraven playing in Chicago?
- Makaya McCraven plays at Empty Bottle in Chicago on Wednesday, November 18, 2026 at 9:00 PM.
- Where is Makaya McCraven playing?
- The show is at Empty Bottle, 1035 N. Western Ave., Chicago.
- When did Makaya McCraven last play Chicago?
- Makaya McCraven last played Chicago on Friday, September 11, 2026, at Garfield Park Conservatory.
Getting there
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