Highly Rare

Highly Rare is a pivotal live-studio hybrid album by Chicago drummer and producer Makaya McCraven, recorded on November 20, 2016, at Danny's Tavern. The performance was captured directly to a Tascam 424MKIII cassette four-track recorder, imparting a distinct lo-fi, tape-saturated aesthetic that sets it apart from McCraven's more polished studio work. McCraven then took these raw four-track stems and edited, looped, and arranged them in his home studio, treating the live improvisation as raw sampling material. The lineup features Nick Mazzarella on alto saxophone, Ben Lamar Gay on cornet, Junius Paul on bass, and Lefto on turntables, creating a unique sonic profile where hip-hop scratching directly interacts with free-jazz improvisation. This record solidifies McCraven's 'organic beatmaker' methodology, showcasing how live jazz can be deconstructed and rebuilt using hip-hop production techniques.