Ezra Collective are a British jazz quintet composed of drummer and bandleader Femi Koleoso, bassist TJ Koleoso, keyboardist Joe Armon-Jones, trumpeter Ife Ogunjobi, and tenor saxophonist James Mollison. The group fuses elements of afrobeat, calypso, reggae, hip-hop, soul and jazz, and frequently collaborates with fellow London-based jazz musicians such as Nubya Garcia and Moses Boyd. They are the recipients of the 2023 Mercury Music Prize.
The London based quintet formed in 2012 by brothers Femi Koleoso (drums) and TJ Koleoso (electric bass), together with James Mollison (sax), Joe Armon-Jones (keyboards) and Dylan Jones (trumpet). Jones has since been replaced by Ife Ogunjobi. The members of Ezra Collective met at the jazz programme Tomorrow's Warriors, run by Gary Crosby. The jazz group has claimed that they faced challenges in succeeding as young jazz musicians in London, with Femi Koleoso saying: "I saw jazz music as an elite art form that I didn't have access to." He puts down the group's success as being able to freely express their musical influences from their youth. The band has said that Robert Glasper, and Kendrick Lamar's To Pimp a Butterfly provided early inspiration for their "template" as a jazz band.
Ezra Collective are a British jazz quintet composed of drummer and bandleader Femi Koleoso, bassist TJ Koleoso, keyboardist Joe Armon-Jones, trumpeter Ife Ogunjobi, and tenor saxophonist James Mollison. The group fuses elements of afrobeat, calypso, reggae, hip-hop, soul and jazz, and frequently collaborates with fellow London-based jazz musicians such as Nubya Garcia and Moses Boyd. They are the recipients of the 2023 Mercury Music Prize.
The London based quintet formed in 2012 by brothers Femi Koleoso (drums) and TJ Koleoso (electric bass), together with James Mollison (sax), Joe Armon-Jones (keyboards) and Dylan Jones (trumpet). Jones has since been replaced by Ife Ogunjobi. The members of Ezra Collective met at the jazz programme Tomorrow's Warriors, run by Gary Crosby. The jazz group has claimed that they faced challenges in succeeding as young jazz musicians in London, with Femi Koleoso saying: "I saw jazz music as an elite art form that I didn't have access to." He puts down the group's success as being able to freely express their musical influences from their youth. The band has said that Robert Glasper, and Kendrick Lamar's To Pimp a Butterfly provided early inspiration for their "template" as a jazz band.
