One of the buzziest bands on the burgeoning London jazz scene will make their first appearance in New Orleans at Three Keys at the Ace Hotel on Friday night. Expect to hear tunes off of their upcoming debut album, You Can’t Steal My Joy, which is due in stores on April 26. Listen to the first single below.
Ezra Collective is visiting New Orleans after playing at the SXSW music festival in Austin, TX. They have several other dates in the United States. This is a chance for New Orleans music lovers to check out a band that has been turning heads in the United Kingdom since forming in 2012.
Led by the brothers, Femi Koleoso (drums) and TJ Koleoso (bass), and featuring Joe Armon Jones on keys, Dylan Jones on trumpet, and James Mollison on saxophone, Ezra Collective plays jazz, but they don’t like calling it jazz. Femi told NPR, “We’re kind of not letting the word ‘jazz’ be something that restricts us, but letting it be something that brings freedom.”
With a myriad of influences including Afrobeat, soul, hip-hop, and the uniquely British hip-hop subgenre, grime, the band has created a groove-based sound that keeps the dance floors packed even as the horn players let loose on some burning solos.
The group has already released an EP, “Juan Pablo the Philosopher,” which has earned rave reviews from NPR, the New York Times and numerous British publications. Released in April of last year, the EP is packed with contemporary sounds befitting a group of twenty-somethings who met at a music camp and hail from a multicultural musical and social milieu.
The new album reflects the uproar occurring in Great Britain over Brexit and the collective experience of people of color the world over. Koleoso went on the tell NPR, “Being a young person growing up in this city, it feels like every movement the government makes is an attempt to steal our joy. But the joys of this brotherhood, of this music, that’s something you can’t steal.”
Show time is 9 PM. Tickets are available here.
