The Pop Corporation

Ezra Collective are the first jazz act to win the Mercury Prize (although Speech Debelle feels at least jazz adjacent tbh) and you might have had your interest piqued with this news.

Their album ‘Where I’m Meant To Be’ bagged the gong and it got a bunch of approving nods from various heads – and honestly, they’ve been hip for a minute, so this is a well deserved award for the group. Also, by osmosis, it’s a great result for British jazz which has been going through something of a renaissance in recent years.

Ezra Collective’s win is a win for all the UK jazzers on the circuit right now.

What’s so great is that, in a period where there’s quite a lot of manufacture in music, this is an award that went to a bunch of kids who met at a youth club. In 2019, they released their debut ‘You Can’t Steal My Joy’ which was a jazz album shot through a variety of influences, including British hip-hop, Afrobeat, dub and more.

Then came the gong-winner, written and recorded in lockdown.

While a lot of artists focused on the alienation of the COVID era, they focused on joy and an uppers-only attitude which was much needed. There was a great carousel of guest features too, with Jorja Smith and Sampa the Great appearing.

Over the years, there’s been something of a Mercury Prize meme, in that all jazz nominations were seen as a cute token gesture from the panel. With Ezra Collective’s win, that’s put that notion to bed.

With Comet Is Coming, Sons of Kemet, Nubya Garcia, Matthew Halsall, Portico Quartet, Tom Misch, Maliki, Kamaal Williams, Alfa Mist and a raft of other jazzers, the scene is currently in rude health.

But the night for now at least, belongs to Ezra Collective, who earlier in the year, recorded a Fela Kuti track too, to celebrate the 50th Anniversary reissues of Fela’s LPs. Lofty company indeed.

It’s quite fitting that the show was effectively shut down with Ezra Collective performing ‘Victory Dance’, isn’t it? A joyful, hot piece of brassy jazz that shows that all that abstract playing and wild ideas can still get people up and out of their seats.

Anyone who told you that jazz was purely for nerds clearly haven’t been listening to Ezra Collective and the new crop coming through right now in the UK and worldwide.

Let’s give the band the last word.