'Ezra Collective- You Can't Steal My Joy' review by Gabriel Dedji

Ezra Collective have gradually grown to be one of the most popular pioneers of UK jazz music. Although the sub-genre only began to gain prominence recently, Ezra Collective have made the most of their opportunities by performing all over the world at festivals and concerts. Born from the music hub ‘Tomorrow’s Warriors’, the quintet is made up of TJ Koleoso on bass, Joe Armon-Jones on keyboard, Femi Koleoso on drums, Dylan Jones on trumpet and James Mollison on saxophone (left to right).

In 1974, saxophone legend Sun Ra and an orchestra of oddball musicians released the 21-minute long ‘Space is the place’ which is fairly difficult on the ears. Knowing this, I was gobsmacked by Ezra Collective’s R&B-flavoured transformation of this strange song on their opening track. After this entrance, an ensuing storm of pleasant chaos came in the form of ‘Why you mad?’. The transition between the first two songs was beautiful in itself, but that was nothing compared to the sharp transition in ‘Why You Mad?’ which led to the silky smooth slow-jam outro. The harmony between all of the musicians on here is crazy. Resting upon the unbreakable groove of the bass, the saxophone and the trumpet shone together on the Caribbean influenced ‘Red whine’. Various other genres were explored on this album like salsa, hip hop and afrobeat (not to be confused with afrobeats, but that too!). ‘Quest For Coin’, a track that differs quite a bit from the group’s usual type, sounds like a radiant tribute to the era of UK garage and classic 90’s grime.

Rising pop star Jorja Smith stars on the prior-released ‘Reason in disguise’. Being that Femi Koleoso, the group’s bandleader, is also Smith’s personal drummer, it’s understandable to see why she fits so perfectly within the groups dynamics. London lyricist, Loyle Carner, also comes to chill with Ezra Collective on the unbelievably groovy ‘What am I to do?’. To conclude the album, London afrobeat orchestra KOKOROKO pay tribute to Fela Kuti (my favourite artist of all time) on the closing track along with their hosts on their fantastic cover of ‘Shakara’.

This is a piece of art that has touched me in a way that modern music hasn’t done in a long time. It doesn’t surprise me that this debut album is number 7 in the UK for Vinyl sales chart (one slot above Billie Eilish) and number 70 in the overall UK charts.*

I give this album: ★★★★/★★★★★

You can’t steal my joy’s tracklist:

1.       Space Is The Place (reprise)

2.       Why You Mad?

3.       Red Whine

4.       Quest For Coin

5.       Reason In Disguise (ft. Jorja Smith)

6.       What am I to do? (ft. Loyle Carner)

7.       Chris and Jane

8.       People Saved

9.       Philosopher II

10.   São Paulo

11.   King Of The Jungle

12.   You Can’t Steal My Joy

13.   Shakara (ft. KOKOROKO)

Genre- UK Jazz, Afro beat, Neo-Soul, Hip Hop

*This was true at the time that the article was written.