Ezra Collective

Ezra Collective are a British jazz quintet whose work blends jazz with afrobeat, calypso, reggae, hip-hop, and soul. The group received the 2023 Mercury Music Prize, a major UK music award, and later became the first jazz band to win the Brit Award for Group of the Year at the 2025 ceremony. In 2024, their single “God Gave Me Feet for Dancing” was selected by Barack Obama for his annual list of 25 favourite songs of the year.

The band formed after its members met through Tomorrow’s Warriors, a jazz youth programme that has played a central role in developing young talent in the UK. Ezra Collective’s lineup consists of drummer and bandleader Femi Koleoso, bassist TJ Koleoso, keyboardist Joe Armon-Jones, trumpeter Ife Ogunjobi, and tenor saxophonist James Mollison. From early on, the group operated as a collective in both name and practice, drawing on shared musical backgrounds and the cross-genre listening habits typical of London’s contemporary jazz scene.

Ezra Collective are also known for working closely with peers from the same London network. They have frequently collaborated with other London-based jazz musicians, including Nubya Garcia and Moses Boyd, reflecting an approach that places guest appearances and community ties alongside band identity. Their music is rooted in jazz improvisation but shaped by dancefloor-oriented rhythms and Caribbean and African diasporic influences, with hip-hop and soul elements often informing their grooves and melodic sensibility.

While the group’s sound is grounded in ensemble playing, individual roles remain distinct: Femi Koleoso leads from the drum kit, TJ Koleoso anchors the low end on bass, Armon-Jones provides harmonic and rhythmic drive on keyboards, Ogunjobi’s trumpet adds bright melodic lines, and Mollison’s tenor saxophone brings a contrasting, often more muscular voice. This instrumentation supports a style that moves fluidly between tightly arranged passages and open sections designed for improvisation and interaction.