Since becoming the first jazz act to win a Mercury prize for their 2022 album, Where I’m Meant to Be, London-based quintet Ezra Collective have cemented their place as one of the UK’s most exciting improvisatory groups. Honing an Afrobeat-inflected, uptempo sound on their latest effort, they give this kineticism full expression.
Sibling rhythm section Femi and TJ Koleoso put in a mighty shift throughout the album’s over-long 19 tracks, thumping through fast-paced Afrobeat syncopations on The Herald and Ajala, intricate highlife grooves on Palm Wine, and Latin clave on Shaking Body. The “dance” is well covered, with horn players James Mollison and Ife Ogunjobi soaring over the backbeats, yet it is on the quieter moments of the album that the group display a new musicality.
Yazmin Lacey feature God Gave Me Feet for Dancing moves into luscious neo-soul territory, while Why I Smile and Everybody play as deeply emotive jazz compositions. The group’s previous albums have played second fiddle to their raucous live shows, but these tracks exist for their own sake, providing a glimpse into a new direction that allows for introspection as much as celebration.
