The multi-talented Shay Hazan fuses rubbery North African Gnawa grooves, with haunting jazz horns and hip hop inflected beats on ‘Reclusive Rituals’. His first project for international groove artisans, Batov Records.

Tel-Aviv based musician Shay Hazan is a composer, producer, bassist & bandleader. His versatile bass is frequently heard on national radio, providing the hits of tomorrow with a foundation in the groove. Hazan’s presence has been felt on major international stages having toured with popular hip hop ensemble, Lucille Crew, and Batov fans will have heard his bass lines propelling the grooves of Sandman Project’s breakthrough EP, ‘Royal Family’. Moreover, Hazan’s straight jazz project, the Shay Hazan Quintet has been heavily playlisted across Spotify editorial playlists and recently released a fast-selling 7” on Jazzman Records.

Having commenced producing the album during the first Covid lockdown, this process of creating the album was a marked departure from previous projects. Whereas he would normally call and gather his band together to record his new compositions live, Hazan would come up with a groove first before sending the recording parts to a drummer in Berlin or a saxophonist in Tel Aviv to add a complementary rhythm or melody, and then finally editing the results himself. As Hazan puts it, “So technically I had the role of the composer and the producer as well as the Guimbri player.”