A lot of hats must have been eaten last night when the ‘token jazz act’ finally won the Mercury Prize. At least anyone who bet on Ezra Collective at 20/1 could afford a new one.
Launched in 1992, the Mercury has done a huge amount to elevate homegrown jazz over the decades, commonly placing a jazz album on supposed level pegging beside commercial heavyweights among the 12 British and Irish releases it nominates as the year’s finest music. But surely nobody believed the jazz one would actually win it one day, including the London quintet themselves, who appeared so resigned to going unnoticed that they turned up in matching camouflage.
