The opening notes of a new wave
LIKE ALCHEMISTS OF SOUND, THE EZRA COLLECTIVE BLENDS TRADITIONAL JAZZ WITH CONTEMPORARY SOUNDS, INCLUDING HIP HOP, SOUL, FUNK, AND NIGERIAN AFROBEAT
Ezra Collective, an adrenalincharged London-based quintet, recently performed at a sold-out show at the British Library. That’s an unlikely venue for a band whose gigs are known to get the audience out of their seats. But then, the concert was part of an ongoing exhibition: Beyond the Bassline: 500 Years of Black British Music.
Yes, 500 years. The earliest record of an African-origin musician in Britain dates to 1511, when a trumpeter named John Blanke played in the court of Henry VII, and then during the reign of his son, Henry VIII. It would be hundreds of years before black music truly took root in Britain.
It wasn’t until the early 20th century that more frequent trans-Atlantic travel brought music records to Britain from America, widening the choice of genres. By the 1930s, inspired by American jazz, British musicians began taking to the genre too.
Then came the Windrush generation of Caribbean immigrants, named for the Empire Windrush, one of the ships roped in to bring immigrants to England, to fill gaps in the labour market in the post-war years. These immigrants brought their indigenous musical traditions with them, and by the late 1940s, a new kind of black British music was making an impact.
By the 1960s, British jazz had a unique sound, bearing notes of calypso, reggae and West African folk music. Since then, British jazz has become even more sonically adventurous. And, over the past 10 years, mainly centred around London, there has been an electrifying new wave of jazz.
Ezra Collective are a prominent vanguard of this movement. Like alchemists of sound, the quintet — drummer Femi Koleoso, his brother TJ Koleoso on bass, Ife Ogunjobi on trumpet, Joe Armon-Jones on keyboards and James Mollison on saxophone — blends traditional jazz with vibrant contemporary sounds, including hip hop, soul, funk, and Nigerian Afrobeat.
Last year, their second full-length album, Where I’m Meant to Be, won the prestigious British Mercury Prize. It was the first jazz album to win (since its inception in 1992, the prize has been won primarily by pop and rock albums). And that’s because the quintet’s brand of jazz appeals to young fans of contemporary music too. It is joyous and celebratory, and frequently features collaborations with other musicians. On Where I’m Meant to Be, the Zambian singer and poet Sampa the Great sings on the opening track, Life Goes On; other tracks feature the British progressive rapper Kojey Radical, and the R&B singer-songwriter Jorja Smith.
Success has come quickly to the band, formed in 2016. They have found recognition among the jazz cognoscenti, landed gigs around the world and got massive radio play. Last December, the band performed at NH7 Weekender in Pune, in a line-up that included the British rapper MIA and Swiss singer-songwriter Priya Ragu.
Ezra Collective is named, incidentally, after a 4th-century-BCE Jewish scribe and priest who is said to have studied the people before him to frame his path forward, a philosophy that the quintet says it believes in.
Femi Koleoso has said the band draws inspiration from bebop pioneers such as Charlie Parker, from great innovators such as Miles Davis and John Coltrane, and from their own musical heritage (including the music of Nigerian Afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti); from British underground electronic dance music genres such as grime and jungle; and from modern British hip hop.
“Miles Davis was listening to soundtracks and classical music and mixing those with bebop jazz. Dizzy Gillespie was listening to Afro-Cuban music and mixing it with his big band tradition,” Koleoso told The Evening Standard. That kind of sums up Ezra Collective’s approach: they listen to jazz greats and mix it up with other modern genres… and it works!