Ezra Collective gets All Together Now crowd moving with infectious jazz-afrobeat fusion

It’s difficult to write about an hour and 15-minute set that is pure instrumental jazz-afrobeat fusion. This author certainly does not boast the vocabulary, the superlatives or the poise to transmit the talent that Ezra Collective bring to All Together Now.

Perhaps the best metric to judge their performance is that when they finish their set on the main stage - reaching a crescendo with 2024’s, ‘God Gave Me Feet for Dancing’, almost everyone you see is beaming from ear to ear.

The London quintet know how to put on a show, with each component allowed to shine to their brightest potential.

Femi Koleoso tears up the drums on his multiple solos. Ife Ogunjobi effortlessly careens on the trumpet while looking supremely spaced out, sporting a North Face shell jacket and shades. 

It's difficult to understand how one can look so comfortable while simultaneously pouring out all their oxygen capacity into a trumpet that carries itself so clearly across the Curraghmore Estate. 

TJ Koleoso saunters around the stage as his bass guitar purrs.

The Mercury Prize-winning group have the underdog story that makes it easy to scream for them - even when there are words being sung.

The quintet hail from the different diasporas of London’s melting pot, first meeting at Tomorrow’s Warriors - a jazz youth club movement aimed to champion diversity and combat social inequality through the arts.

The freedom and the cohesiveness with which they play rings true; there's a concrete game plan but also a real fluidity and room for improvisation that underpins their performance. All Together Now stage is wrapped around their finger as they raise the pace and then break for air.

Ireland, the collective declares, are the closest relatives to Lagos, Nigeria, because we both know how to go ‘f*cking crazy’. It generates a big response from the crowd.

As they build to a fever pitch, they ratchet up the intensity further; in a moment’s notice, TJ Koleoso has jumped off the stage, and he’s followed by saxophonist James Mollison.

A corridor parts for them like the Red Sea and in struts Koleoso, who still remains cool despite being submerged in the jam-packed crowd. Mollison follows and he continues to blare through his saxophone.

And with that, the set finishes with other of their mainstays like ‘No One’s Watching Me’, featuring Olivia Dean, Grammy Award winner for Best New Artist, and ‘No Confusion.’ 

The band is now gearing up for their fourth album, 'Here Because of Hope', which releases in October.