The release of Dance, No One’s Watching sees London quintet Ezra Collective riding the crest of a wave of popularity that started building in 2018. Their last album Where I’m Meant to Be took them to places few thought a UK jazz act could get to, such as winning the Mercury Prize.
This time around the band deliver a near seamless, euphoric experience that takes their trademark genre-hopping, dance floor filling sound and pushes it to new heights. Ezra Collective are a band with mission – to spread joy and empowerment wherever they go.
Drummer and bandleader Femi Koleoso describes it as a “statement of freedom”, adding that “this record says that you can be who you want to be, regardless of what’s around you, regardless of what people are saying, because on a deeper level – no one is watching”.
For Koleoso and his band mates, trumpeter Ife Ogunjobi, sax player James Mollison, pianist Joe Armon-Jones and Femi’s brother and bassist TJ Koleoso – each record is a statement of intent. While Dance is undoubtedly joyous – there is a deeper subtext to it and to everything they do. They make music that fuses cultural influences from all over the world while sounding inherently like London. It’s music to overcome boundaries, celebrate cultural diversity and bring people together in shared experience.
The familiar elements of Ezra Collective’s heady sonic-brew are all here, from the synchronised afrobeat horn lines on The Herald to TJ’s dub influenced bassline on the soulful God Gave Me Feet For Dancing, which features a vocal turn from fellow London artist Yazmin Lacey. A highly accessible earworm of a track, it builds on their approach of bringing in vocal guests to switch things up and make things as accessible as they can.
Elsewhere Ghanaian rapper and producer M.anifest lends his captivating flows to bass-heavy hip-hop infused track Streets Is Calling, alongside South African vocalist Moonchild Sanelly. An album highlight – this track seems to distil Ezra Collective at their best fusing genres and collaborating with artists who drive the artistic vision to a different level.
Other guest spots include neo-soul singer Olivia Dean whose turn on No One’s Watching provides another highlight on an album that is packed with them.
Delivered in distinct phases, Dance, No One’s Watching creates a unified experience. The band take the listener through a journey that features rousing upbeat pieces such as the Latin influenced Ajala and the funk referencing Expensive while also taking the mood to a much more chilled out and loungey place on tracks like N29.
Ezra Collective have done it again, delivering another varied multicultural, multi-genre masterclass of an album. It’s a record capable of welcoming all comers to the world of jazz and onto the dance floor.
This record cements Ezra Collective’s position as the good time band of UK jazz. It also pulls off the major feat of following a record that pushed the band into a new level of popularity and acclaim with an even stronger statement of joy and unity.
Dance, No One’s Watching is released today 27 September
