Wednesday, 3 December 2025
Bassist, composer and producer Shay Hazan returns with his third solo album, ‘When It Rains It Pours’ on Batov Records where we find a shift away from previous global, jazz, funk and spiritual sounds to different global, jazz, funk and spiritual sounds!
Coco Chatru Quartet's 'Lost Christmas' is our 4th encounter with the group led by Håkan Trygger so we thought it was about time we had a chat about the new album, Ballin' The Jack Orchestra and "raising your jazz spirits with not the obvious seasonal fayre"!
Linus Kåse (alto sax): When I saw John’s artwork »En syn – Tiden« (»A Vision – The Time« I knew instantly that the trilogy had to culminate in a Christmas album.
Daniel Kåse (drums/vibe): When we got deeper into the Coco Chatru project, new things were made clear to us.
HT: Yes, while thinking about Christmas song to record, we found new information about Coco Chatru.
CM: When we heard the rumours that Coco Chatru had starred in a Christmas movie, it was made clear that Linus was right all along. We had to do a Christmas album.
YATM: How did the new record evolve from the previous two albums?
DK: The trilogy of albums fit together musically through the sound, familiar style…
CM: … the way we play. Even though we’ve broadened the palette of sound by adding more instruments on the later records.
LK: Sleighbells!
HT: No Christmas music is possible without sleighbells.
DK: The music on the first two albums evolved when we played them on gigs.
HT: We also have more music, several recorded songs that did not fit into the albums musically and thematically. So the trilogy is not a finished project.
LK: Rather it is the beginning.
HT: The first trilogy in the Coco Chatru Saga.
DK: Yes. More albums are coming!
CM: … We have also produced music with CCQ for other projects; for example, we have done concerts together with poets and actors.
LK: Yes, we then added synthesizers and electronic devises. Big beats.
YATM: Ok. What do we need to know about a Swedish Christmas traditions that we don't know about (especially related to the track titles)?
DK: We couldn’t record traditional Christmas music, not with this band. Even if we all like the Christmas Classics, both the jazz Christmas classics and the Swedish traditional music.
LK: There are lots of Swedish traditional Christmas songs.
HT: Several of them are drinking songs, like Hej tomtegubbar slå I glasen (»Hello Tomte Jubbas / Gnome-lads, raise your glasses«).
DK: Or songs that people used to sing and play while they danced around the Christmas Tree. Like Räven raskar över isen (»The Fox rushes over the ice«). Several of these songs are also sung at Midsommar, Midsummer’s Eve, in Sweden.
LK: Yes and we eat the same food at Christmas and at Midsummer parties. The song »Coco raskar över isen« on Lost Christmas is a playful shoutout to Räven raskar, combining folk rythms and melodies with jazz.
HT: And your songs, Linus, »Gästerna kommer« and »Prosten«…
LK: What about them?
HT: I think you said you were inspired by Ingmar Bergman, and his big scenes with dramatic dark undertones?
LK: Did I say that? … yes they have a sinister intent.
DK: Regarding Christmas, the word for Christmas in Swedish is »Jul«. A very old word going back to medieval heathen ages.
HT: Yes, probably Jul was originally used for heathen midwinter celebrations, »midvinterblotet«, the sacrifice-party of winter.
LK: And also Jultomten – Father Christmas or the Christmas Gnome – has a special form in Sweden. He appears on the 24th of December, suddenly knocking on the door…
DK: Pounding on the door.
LK: Yes, very loud. And giving presents to the kids.
CM: And before Jultomten, back in the old days, it was Julbocken (the Christmas-Goat) who pounded on the door.
HT: Julbocken!
DK: But Julbocken, I think, did not give presents to the kids. Rather it was some sort of public mischief…
LK: Yes, a Carnival! Julbockens karneval.
YATM: Any future gigs/radio appearances lined up?
DK: We have a series of gigs in the Stockholm area in December.
LK: Promoting 'Lost Christmas'.
CM: And we’re doing a Christmas show on a theatre in Södermalm, Stockholm, called Ö2scenkonst, together with an actor portraying Coco Chatru as the teller of horror stories.
HT: We are presently booking gigs for 2026. We would really love to come and play in England, Gerry!
YATM: We'll certainly be looking forward to that but is there anything else about the band/you that you want to tell us?
DK: More music is coming. And more albums!
HT: We are also planning for a major film music project in cooperation with a movie theatre in Stockholm. The plan is that we are going to compose and perform music to Frits Lang’s classic Metropolis, during late fall 2026.
LK: We will continue to record new music and perform live, further exploring the adventures of Coco Chatru.
Blue Note in Greece?, Well it could be as Yako Trio presents thier new album 'Woven' with special guests Harris Lambrakis and James Wylie.
This 12" is slated to be 'Sold Out' very soon like the rest of the limited vinyl releases on the label so act now to get these four tracks so you too can be a 'Trentsetter'!
Title: Trentsetter
Release date: 5th December, 2025
Label: Shadow Pressings
Catalog Number SHDW07
Format: 12" VINYL / Digital / Bandcamp
Tuesday, 2 December 2025
Ilhan Ersahin's Istanbul Sessions is world's away again, "guiding listeners through a sonic exploration of Istanbul's diverse neighborhoods where tradition meets innovation and the ancient pulse of the city merges with contemporary rhythms" -this is the latest release on New York’s legendary Nublu Records!
Release date: 2nd December, 2025
Label : Nublu Records
Catalog Number: NUB-0692
Format: Digital
Whilst the name Devra might sound like a staid office of government, this Devra is anything but and he's definitely 'On The Way' with his second EP out this week.
Title: On The Way
If you didn't know already, the team at YATM have a taste for the strange and the visionary and that's exactly what 'The Persistence of Doubt' is: "a 30-minute album built from a live improvisation—Rhodes, synths, bass, and drums that was then pulled apart, looped, layered, and stitched back together".
Who could resist? We're also told, "with flashes of electric-era Miles and a bit of that experimental energy you here coming out of Athens" and we know from Kolida Babo (see review HERE) and 'Athos: Echoes from the Holy Mountain' (see review HERE) that there's no shortage of mesmerising, hypnotic and experimental sounds to be found.
From the opening of 'What Was Has Become' that these guys aren't far behind the Monday night "jam sessions at Nublu in New York City [filled with] raw, onest, vibrant energy.” such as the recent JMMR album, 'Resitance Is Fertile' - see review HERE.
The DJs will be playing this are likely to range of BBC Radio 3's 'New Music Show' (who have recently featured Leo Chadburn - 'Sleep In The Shadow of The Alternator' - see review HERE) and BBC 6 Music Deb "explosive jazz" Grant and her ex-side kick, Tom Ravenscrot; not so much Tony Minvielle on Jazz FM?
I could do with more 'Off' than the other tracks but for a mere £2.50 for the digital album - it's definitely worth the price of the download.
;t
Title: The Persistence Of Doubt
We know that "Girls on the Spectrum just wanna dance" from a couple of months ago but this is the 'Spectrum' remixes which is all toucan sounds positive too!
BUY LINK (Tickets): https://posh.vip/e/class-9-cargo-series-pat-lok-kita-robert-pm-first-fridays-free-dead-letter-no9
Title: Spectrum Remixes w/ Sebb Junior & JIALING
Release date: 5th December, 2025
Label: Toucan Sounds
Cat. No: YTCW155RMX
Format: Digital / Bandcamp
Monday, 1 December 2025
I'd normally say, "In typical Delusions Of Grandeur style", but the Jimpster et al team have excelled themselves with Declan McDermott's debut by getting a couple of remix big guns on the case, after all, they're 'Doin' It All 4 U'!
It's strange to think that there's a couple of recent releases that got us thinking of about Gilles Peterson's "St. Germain" period and along comes Declan McDermott's track 'Dani' with some deep house jazz featuring Luxonous (aka Omri Abramov) on soprano sax and EWI (that's electronic wind instrumet to you) that does echo some français about it with its waterfall of the seine wading with the sax in the wind.
Now, you'd say that was enough to get you excited about one EP, but wait, what is this all about? Whilst there's no obvious link to Peterson with 'Doin' It All 4 U', (apart from his Level 42 obsession) I bet you can guess that where lovetempo comes in (see review HERE) you immediately fall in love(tempo) with it as it's as if Jaco does a Ritchie Rome in the house.
Not only that, there's a remix by Holland's Tom Trago, the DJ/Producer (most associated with the Rush Hour label for the best part of 20 years) and our favourite bass player/singer/band member, lovetempo (with both vocal and instrumental versions); an amazing agile twist into electro/disco/boogie of New York origins both re-works stand out like a night at Studio 54!
Paper Recordings are cutting deep with this one as it just goes to show that if you're locked up in Norway fed on a diet of Todd Terje, Lindrøm and all things Prins Thomas and Full Plupp before the party season starts you get 4 tracks on an EP, 'Et Helvete's Rabalder; which roughly translates as, "Party On"!
Catalog Number : PR375
Format: Digital / Bandcamp









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