5 jazz records that everyone should listen to, according to Ezra Collective
Exclusive: We chat to the Mercury Prize winners about Ronald Snijder, Miles Davis and a few choice jazz picks in between...
Forget what you thought you knew about jazz — Ezra Collective are shaping the future of the sound, one influence at a time.
Fresh off their Mercury Prize win last year, the genre-blending British quintet are creating music in a genre all their own, creating modern jazz which fuses elements of afrobeat, hip-hop, soul and more.
The London-based fivesome have just released new album Dance, No One's Watching to rave reviews, with the album even hailed as “an an artistic masterpiece” by The Independent. This week their live tour will culminate in an epic show at Wembley Arena — making them the first ever jazz band to headline the iconic venue.
The boundary-breaking jazz band have also been continuing to push the envelope recently with another experimental session, recording live and direct on to vinyl in front of an intimate audience, as part of a special Jack Daniels Live to Vinyl show at London’s iconic Metropolis Studios.
Sitting down with Shortlist at the special gig to share the methods behind the music, trumpeter Ife Ogunjobi explains that the importance of mixing influences is woven into the very fabric of the band, “The whole narrative behind the name as a collective is that Ezra was a prophet in the Bible, and he studied the people before him and used that information to go forward.”
“It's the same approach we use when we make music,” reveals Ife, “We study everyone, whether it be Fela Kuti, J Dilla, Max Roach, Clifford Brown or Erykah Badu. We use all these different genres, different styles, and different great musicians, and create our own sounds with it.
“That's why, you know, for us as a collective, it's not just afrobeat, or hip hop, or jazz, or reggae, or funk: it's everything we’ve been influenced by which we put into our music.”
Ife adds, of the far-reaching influences, “Depending on what you're into, you can find something that you like within Ezra Collective.”
With that in mind, we sat down with Ife and keyboardist Joe Armon-Jones to discover the jazz records which have all played a part in crafting Ezra Collective’s unique sound and award-winning position as one of the UK’s most exciting bands — and which they’d recommend we add to our playlists, too.
And what about an Ezra Collective record — should that make the top five? “That would be a weird one,” laughs Joe. “If people like it, that's great, but we learned from people that came before us, and used that to make our music, so that's kind of the approach we have,” adds Ife.
Speaking of musical heroes, the musicians reveal that they can agree unequivocally in who they want to collaborate with on a track some time soon: “Kendrick Lamar,” they answer immediately, “Or Chaka Khan as well,” adds Ife, “That would be amazing, those would be dream collaborations.”
5 jazz records that everyone should listen to
1: Clifford Brown & Max Roach (1954)
By The Clifford Brown-Max Roach Quintet
“I think this album is great, and it’s so important,” says Ife, “Obviously, being a trumpet player, I use that a lot, and this album has got so many great songs on there.”
“I feel like it’s really the bread and butter of jazz. Especially songs, like ‘Joyspring’ and ‘Jordu,’ they’re really great,” adds Ife.
“Someone sent me that album once,” remembers Joe, “and said, ‘We’ve got a gig tonight and we need a piano player - could you learn the whole album?’ I had a listen, and I was like ‘Oh… goodness me!”
2: A Safe Return (1980)
By Ronald Snijders
“Ronald Snijders is a Dutch flautist, and this album is amazing. You can't find it on Spotify, unfortunately, but it is on YouTube and the physical record is out there,” explains Joe, “It's an amazing album. It’s unbelievable.”
Joe adds: “Not only that, but the whole album is all him: every single instrument, the mix, the production! It’s like a Prince kind of deal, you know?”
3: Free for All (1965)
By Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers
“Another one I would say would be Free For All by Art Blakeley & the Jazz Messengers,” says Ife, “The compositions on that album are incredible. A lot of them are by Wayne Shorter.”
“The whole vibe and energy of the album is so ferocious and aggressive, and I feel like that kind of jazz playing is really exciting to listen to,” enthuses Ife, “It almost feels like you could be in the room with them when they're playing it. That's another one of my favourites. I think that they’re great!”
4: Heavy Weather (1977)
By Weather Report
“Weather Report’s album Heavy Weather is probably their most famous one, but it's also just incredible and it is full of samples. If you're a hip hop head, every single tune has a little moment where you'd be like, ‘Oh, yeah, I know this!’” explains Joe. of the influential album.
“It’s amazing, groundbreaking music, which changed the way people make music forever. That one’s also got Wayne Shorter on saxophone and producing.”
5: Four & More (1966)
By Miles Davis
“Another one I would say, would be Four & More by Miles Davis. It's a live album, but sometimes they’re the best. The combination of players on Four & More [Miles Davis on trumpet, George Coleman on saxophone, Herbie Hancock on piano, Ron Carter on double bass and Tony Williams on drums] is one that you can never really get again, in my opinion, or not in that way, at least,” says Ife.
“That record has some of the best jazz playing you'll ever hear, and to have that recording on an album is great.”
Ezra Collective spoke to Shortlist, ahead of their Jack Daniel's Live to Vinyl session - a series of exclusive live performances recorded directly to vinyl at the legendary Metropolis Studios, London.
Lead image: The Mercury Prize Winners 2023 (Photo by JMEnternational/Getty Images)