Ezra Collective are a band formed in a youth club in Camden. Though widely described as a jazz group, their music fuses elements of reggae, afrobeat, soul, rap, and Latin. They are not your typical jazz act: ditching suits for trackies, wistful love songs for up-tempo jigs, and combine the highest level of musicianship with a vibrant and contagious dynamism. Since their inception at the Tomorrow’s Warriors youth club, the 2023 Mercury prize winners have collaborated with the likes of Dave, Loyle Carner, and Jorja Smith. However, an unwillingness to be viewed as celebrities suggests little has changed in their outlook. Plainly, their art aims to capture the human spirit and to promulgate joy, togetherness, and expression. It is truly music to dance to and does what all music ought to: it makes you feel good.

Ezra Collective’s UK tour began in Birmingham at the O2 Institute in Digbeth. Bassist TJ Koleoso appeared on a dark stage, promptly followed by trumpeter Ife Ogunjobi and saxophonist James Mollison, who were illuminated up on the balcony amongst the crowd. The melody of ‘Welcome To My World’ blasted out from above, and the rest of the band joined the stage with heads turning back and forth; it was quite an entrance. There is something so captivating about live music, especially when you are as close to the band as we were. It allows for a full-body experience that headphone listening falls short of realising. Jazz is so expressive that being able to watch it play out adds an aspect that purists would say is vital to its identity.

They began the set with songs from their 2022 album Where I’m Meant To Be, interspersed with material from the brand-new Dance, No One’s Watching. After a few tracks, drummer and frontman Femi Koleoso told everybody in the crowd to make friends with the three strangers closest to them. This is characteristic of Ezra Collective; they are known for their crowd interaction, and from the first song aim to get rid of any mystique surrounding themselves – “We want everyone in this room to feel connected.” A self-described live band, you can tell they genuinely love touring, performing and celebrating with people. All night, they continually encouraged everybody to dance and sing as one. But the people having the most fun were, without a doubt, the ones on stage. 

There is no sea of phones at Ezra Collective gigs as people are too busy enjoying themselves. So often, especially at larger concerts, you can feel like a spectator rather than a participant. From the first Ezra song to the very last one, the audience is recognised as key to the experience, and dancing together becomes the most important thing. Their performance of ‘Victory Dance’ was a good example of this. Everything about this song, from its infectious Afro-Cuban rhythm to keyboardist Joe Armon-Jones’ mad solos, radiates euphoria and encapsulates the beautifully ordered chaos of jazz. And, of course, they did it their way, victory dancing off stage and into the moving crowd for the entirety of the track.

Those with a good knowledge of local music might have foreseen Jorja Smith’s appearance as a guest act, but it certainly came as a surprise to me. We were blessed with a soulful rendition of ‘Little Things’ from the Walsall-born singer. Some of the old heads in the audience had absolutely no idea what was going on but were all for it, and Jorja never stopped smiling.

Above all, Ezra Collective’s message is joy. Towards the end of the gig, Femi Koleoso took a break from drumming to deliver some words: “Whether you woke up feeling happy or sad this morning, one thing you can do is choose to feel joy. So, for the next six minutes, that’s what we’re gonna do.” Koleoso often likes to draw this distinction between temporary emotions like happiness and sadness, and the permanence of a joyous state of mind; Ezra Collective’s second album is, after all, entitled You Can’t Steal My Joy. What this quintet does so brilliantly is express the human condition through an essentially non-verbal musical medium.

On their latest album, Dance, No One’s Watching, Koleoso said, “The dancefloor encapsulates what life is, you can live your life without the anxiety that’s stopping you from dancing. Dance, No One’s Watching tells us, “Don’t be petrified, because this façade you built up of everyone scrutinising you might not be as real as you think it is. Take the entire moment with both hands for yourself.’”

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