It became instantly apparent that Femi Koleoso was generous but lacking in spare time as he joined the Zoom call from a double-decker bus weaving through London.
He was on his way to conduct another interview with a member of his youth group who was making a documentary on drummers.
Koleoso is the perfect subject as the drummer and bandleader of the London jazz quintet Ezra Collective. Amongst contemporaries like Kamaal Williams, Nubya Garcia and Moses Boyd, the band is at the forefront of a flourishing modern jazz scene in the UK.
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At the age of 28, Koleoso says modern influences like Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly were pivotal to the band and in dawning a new age of jazz. “You had young kids that probably would have been listening to Blur and [would have] become an indie band, who are listening to Kamasi Washington and picked up a saxophone,” he explains. “I think at the same time some of the younger jazz musicians got a little bit of light shed on them.”
Koleoso hopes his band can continue the cycle. “I think of when Ezra Collective did Boiler Room, those kids that were in their teenage angst about to pick up a guitar decided to jump on keys or bass or trumpet instead,” he says.
Ezra Collective are unshackled to any specific rules or genres, which is on full display in their sophomore record Where I’m Meant to Be. The Mercury Prize-nominated album effortlessly tackles salsa, reggae, dub, hip-hop, soul and afrobeat. “I always like to say we’re like the shuffle generation,” explains Koleoso. “In the 90s you had one CD and you listened to the whole thing, then you fast forward to our age group, and I could easily be listening to some UK garage, and then straight up next comes some Beethoven that I was studying in school.”
Koleoso says the new way of ingesting music has leaked into their sound. “Whatever we like we just end up playing, and I love that about us,” he says. “That’s the best thing about improvised music, whatever the vibe is you can do it.”
This does not mean Ezra Collective have abandoned their jazz roots, with their new album closing with a modern interpretation of Sun Ra’s Love in Outer Space, and the front cover image a homage to Thelonious Monk’s famous Underground cover. “I feel like it’s the same language, it’s just ours is with a 90s Baby London accent,” says Koleoso. “Sun Ra was doing very similar things to what Shabaka [Hutchings of The Comet is Coming] is trying to do now, and Alice Coltrane is reading from the same hymn sheet as Thundercat.”
“I’m still listening to that all the time, and still excited in record stores when I find a wicked bebop record,” says Koleoso. “It’s just such a beautiful place to learn from and continue to be inspired by.”
Earlier this year the band played six shows in three days at the legendary Blue Note in New York. An even greater feat than selling out every show was getting the audience dancing at their tables at the notoriously sophisticated jazz club. “That’s what we’re trying to do, and people need that especially post-lockdown when everyone’s been locked in their house for two years,” says Koleoso. “It’s not just about playing a show and making money, it’s about so much more than that… I just want to make sure that I make people feel something real.”
The band will be coming to Australia for Strawberry Fields in November along with a string of headline shows. They are no strangers to the country or great festivals, having played Golden Plains in March 2020, weeks before the country closed its borders. Koleoso is excited about the broad range of music at Strawberry Fields. “Techno is always a good one because techno lovers are quite open lovers,” he says. “If you’ve got a techno crowd you can definitely get them converted with a good drumbeat.”
Having played at Coachella and the famed Hammersmith Apollo already this year, Koleoso says their live shows have evolved a lot. “I feel like we’re just a much better band than the band that played in Australia last time,” he says. “It’s far more intense. It’s far more rock and roll. We’re playing longer shows and we’re playing harder shows and were coming off stage with bruises and cuts now, as opposed to just drips of sweat.”
Ezra Collective are lighting up Strawberry Fields from November 17 – 19 this year. Grab tickets here.
