Album Picks: Shay Hazan Quintet - Nuff Headlines [Chant Records]

Tel Aviv bassist and composer Shay Hazan release his new album Nuff Headlines with his Shay Hazan Quintet via Chant Records.

Bassist and composer Shay Hazan is a mainstay on the vibrant Tel Aviv jazz scene. His versatile bass playing can be heard on the Israeli radio alongside well-known pop stars, in eclectic jazz clubs and festivals in Israel and Europe. Hazan's new album Nuff Headlines finds him in the leadership role, a rare (although not unheard of) position for a bass player. The quintet is filled out by the two-horn duo of Tal Avraham on trumpet and Eyal Netzer on saxophone, along with Milton Michaeli on piano and Haim Peskoff on drums. Hazan’s musical roots spread far and wide into the magical realm of Moroccan Gnawa music (Hazan often plays gimbri, the traditional three-stringed skin-covered bass lute), the new wave of hip hop, and the 1960's Chicago free jazz and human rights movement. These roots all feed the single organism of the band, with Hazan leading from the bottom, anchoring and propelling the music with a force only a bassist can provide.