Being signed to Blue Note has several advantages. There’s the kudos. The guarantee of quality. Then there’s the access to the annals, to the historic highlights of jazz – from early jazz through bebop, hard bop and post bop to soul jazz, spiritual jazz; fusion, infinity and beyond. Having won plaudits for We’re New Again, a 2020 reimagining of Gil Scott Heron’s final album I’m New Here, the Chicago drummer, producer and sonic collagist Makaya McCraven was let loose in the Blue Note candy shop. This fine 13-track record finds him re-sculpting originals by the likes of Kenny Burrell, Eddie Gale, Dexter Gordon and more, aided by a live band on saxes, flute, vibraphone and bass and a beatmaker sensibility akin to a modern-day J Dilla or Madlib.

A spoken-word intro by Pee Wee Marquette, Birdland’s master of ceremonies, prepares us for 'something special', and his narration keeps us in the zone, playing as if we’re at one mighty A-list show. McCraven proceeds to deftly weave his drums and bass through vintage recordings including the Hank Mobley-derived opener ‘Sliced Off the Top’, Art Blakey’s ‘When You’ve Left Your Lover’ (retitled ‘When Your Lover Is Gone’) and lead single ‘De’Jeff’s Tune’ (a reworking of Jack Wilson’s ‘Frank’s Tune’), finding 21st century resonance in classic hard bop, and forever eking out the groove. A clever and compelling work, then, all the more exciting for the pathways it carves for a whole new generation of listeners. Blue Note just got even cooler.