EZRA COLLECTIVE – YOU CAN’T STEAL MY JOY [ENTER THE JUNGLE]

Morning Mari*‘s album of the week for this week is Ezra Collective‘s ‘You Can’t Steal My Joy‘ out on Enter The Jungle on the 26th of April, 2019.

You Can’t Steal My Joy is an exuberant, defiant debut album that’s destined to cement Ezra Collective’s status as one of the UK’s most exciting groups.

The record features friends and fans, Loyle Carner, KOKOROKO and Jorja Smith, and is preceded by lead single and full-blown banger, Quest For Coin.

Ezra Collective are five young Londoners; bandleader Femi Koleoso (drums), his brother TJ Koleoso (bass), Joe Armon-Jones (keys), Dylan Jones (trumpet), and James Mollison (saxophone). The band’s incredible musicianship and spirited, inclusive approach to music – which draws on afrobeat, Latin, hip-hop, grime and more – has seen them break out beyond the thriving UK jazz scene.

Ezra Collective’s 2017 EP, Juan Pablo: The Philosopher, won ‘Best Jazz Album’ at Gilles Peterson’s Worldwide Awards and the band picked up ‘Best UK Jazz Act’ and ‘Live Experience Of The Year’ at the 2018 Jazz FM Awards. They played Quincy Jones’ birthday party and recently completed a mosh-pit-filled and completely sold out UK tour before headlining Winter JazzFest in New York. Ezra Collective’s forthcoming gigs include more US dates, SXSW, plus All Point East, Lamar Tree and Green Man festivals.

“Growing up as young people in London has challenges but, rather than focus on all the negativity surrounding us, we’ve decided to focus on the positives”, explains Femi. “You can steal a lot of things from us – our ability to travel freely, our access to education, our right to a level playing field, even our ability to live life at its full potential – but as long as we don’t forget our core truth, You Can’t Steal Our Joy.”

Tracklist:

1. Space is the Place (Reprise)
2. Why You Mad?
3. Red Whine
4. Quest For Coin
5. Reason in Disguise feat. Jorja Smith
6. What Am I to Do? feat. 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 feat. KOKOROKO