From youth club to Mercury Prize

Ezra Collective formed at Tomorrow's Warriors youth club in Enfield, north London, and became a must-see live act. In 2023, their album Where I'm Meant to Be became the first jazz record to win the Mercury Prize.

BRIT Award and chart success

The five-piece won the BRIT Award for group of the year at the 2025 ceremony while remaining fiercely independent. Their new album Here Because of Hope is tracking to be their first UK number one.

The band's five members

Femi Koleoso plays drums, TJ Koleoso on bass, Ife Ogunjobi on trumpet, James Mollison on saxophone, and Joe Armon-Jones on keyboards. Together they traverse funky house, UK garage, zouk, and highlife.

Major tour dates ahead

Ezra Collective will play Webster Hall in New York on November 18 and a four-night stand at London's Brixton Academy from March 18 to 21. These are among the most impressive venues of their career.

Ten years of growth

Bandleader Femi remembers spending most of 2019 convincing friends to buy tickets for the Roundhouse. Now they sell out that same venue in a single day.

“I feel like I started the band as a child, and now I'm in a band of adults.”

From rehearsals to intentional moments

As children, the band spent all day rehearsing Fela Kuti songs and hanging out. Now as adults, their time together is more intentional, but they seize opportunities better than they did before.

Dreams that became reality

Femi's original dream was headlining Ronnie Scott's jazz club. After achieving that, he set new goals like playing Glastonbury and festivals in Japan, Brazil, and Nigeria. Each milestone led to the next.

Channel One Sound System remix spark

A seismic moment came when Channel One Sound System remixed Ego Killah from their 2023 album. Hearing their favourite sound system play the remix to a dancing crowd inspired them to capture Caribbean and African music on a record.

Joy as their mission

After the Mercury Prize and BRIT Award wins, audiences came to their shows seeking joy. Femi realized their role was to be a producer of joy for people, even while dealing with personal and collective pain.

Balancing pain and hope

The album's title Here Because of Hope reflects how Black journeys between Africa, the Caribbean, and the UK brought both pain and joy. The question became how to bring joy to people while feeling pain themselves.

Pain as daily reality

Femi doesn't shy away from pain in his songwriting. He references global suffering from Gaza to Nigeria, asking why we become numb to these realities instead of letting them break our hearts.

Music as sacred expression

Humans have always balanced pain and joy through music, creating afrobeat, reggae, calypso, and garage. Femi sees music as sacred and warns that AI replacing the soul of music tampers with what it was made to be.

Deep research into global sounds

For Here Because of Hope, Femi researched Gambian and Senegalese music to understand the differences between soca, bashment, and zouk. He focused on learning music movements rather than finding specific artists.

A love letter, not appropriation

As a Nigerian, Femi felt it was a Black privilege to explore these musical spaces. He wasn't trying to be an authoritative voice but rather paying homage to influences that shaped their music.

Letitia Wright narrates the journey

Actor Letitia Wright narrates the album because she embodies the journey from Africa to the Caribbean to the UK. Growing up in Tottenham, she represents both the beauty and struggles of London's working class communities.

Leona Lewis on All I Need

Former X Factor winner Leona Lewis provides vocals on All I Need. As someone from Islington with Caribbean parents, she embodies the Lovers Rock narrative and the pain and joy of her career trajectory.

Perfect timing with Olivia Dean

Olivia Dean features on No One's Watching Me, their most-streamed Spotify song. Femi discovered her through mentoring a drummer and watched her rise from 100-capacity venues to Grammy wins and Madison Square Garden.

“It's the most perfect A&R moment I've ever had!”

Inspiring the next generation

Ten years down the line, artists now reference Ezra Collective as inspiration. Femi wants people to leave their gigs feeling like success is possible and accessible, not reserved for the elite.

“It is possible for everyone, and you never want to be the rapper with the 100-grand chain.”