26/06/2025

LYFE THURSDAY | JUNE 26, 2025

/thesuntelegram FOLLOW / Malaysian Paper

ON TELEGRAM m RAM

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Jazz for everyone o Ezra Collective’s infectious energy defies genre’s traditional ‘elitism’ to win new fans, critical acclaim

U K five-piece Ezra Collective has built up a loyal fan base with its upbeat jazz fusion, successfully challenging the genre’s “elitism”, saying that they embrace everyone. Over the last two years alone, “EZ” has become the first British jazz group to win the prestigious Mercury Prize and have a Top 10 UK album with 2024’s Dance, No One’s Watching . Its crowning glory came in March when it was named group of the year at the 2025 Brit Awards, an annual celebration of UK music. “Jazz, when I was growing up, was an expensive thing to tap into. I could not afford to get into most jazz clubs, I definitely could not afford a drink,” drummer Femi Koleoso said at his small music studio in North London, close to where he grew up. “Jazz felt like an upper-class, elitist high art form... so we are just making people feel like this is for everyone,” he added. The story of Ezra Collective, named after the biblical prophet, began around a decade ago when Femi and his younger brother TJ, a bassist, began playing in teenage jazz clubs, where they met keyboardist Joe Armon-Jones and saxophonist James Mollison. They were later joined by trumpeter Ife Ogunjobi. ‘Temple of joy’ “We learned jazz... but we fell in love with Afrobeat first. That was our first love and infusing the two was the first sound,” explained Femi.

A decade later, the band, which will play at the Glastonbury Festival later this month, has incorporated other influences such as hip-hop, dub, reggae, Ghanaian highlife music and “most recently salsa music”, he said. But jazz still “underpins” everything the band creates, added the drummer. Its danceable and inventive concoction has won fans far beyond jazz’s traditional base, helped by the wild energy of its concerts where the charismatic Femi, like a preacher, exhorts the crowd to create a “temple of joy”. One of the leading groups in an insurgent jazz scene, driven by a new generation of musicians, the quintet surprised everyone by winning the prestigious Mercury Prize for their second album Where I’m Meant To Be , released in 2023. The victory “finally acknowledges a golden age for UK jazz”, said Guardian music critic Alexis Petridis. “A lot of us have a similar origin story in that a lot of us met in these youth clubs”, which, according to bassist TJ, have helped make London “the best place to be born in the world” for aspiring young musicians. ‘Free-for-all’ The thriving community owes much to the “Tomorrow’s Warriors” programme established by Gary Crosby and Janine Irons. Attempting to address the lack of diversity in jazz, they founded the programme in 1991 to provide young people with free spaces to practise, learn to play together and meet artistes.

(From left) Ezra Collective tenor saxophonist Mollison, bassist TJ, trumpeter Ogunjobi. – AFPPIC

my best mate is Ghanaian and (there are) Jamaicans everywhere you go,” said Femi. “That kind of melting-pot” has inspired “everything I wrote and created”, added Femi, who also toured with top group Gorillaz in recent years. When Ezra Collective takes to the stage, “the first part of the song will be played accurately” but “the moment the last note of the first part of the song is done, it is just a free-for-all, just see what happens, and long may that continue,” said a smiling Femi. “I do not know if AI could be doing that gig,” added TJ, addressing the debate about technology. He insisted that “real, authentic things survive” such upheavals. – AFP

It has fostered numerous talents such as Nubya Garcia, Kokoroko and Ezra Collective, and the band’s members now give lessons or donate instruments to the city’s clubs, which have seen their numbers dwindle amid spending cuts. “This moment right here is because of the great youth clubs and the great teachers and the great schools that support young people playing music,” Femi said at the Brits in March, as his band triumphed against music giants such as Coldplay and The Cure. Devout Christians and fans of Fela Kuti and Arsenal Football Club, the brothers grew up in the north London neighbourhood of Enfield. “I grew up next to a Bangladeshi family, my best friend in school was Turkish, I am Nigerian,

Kid Laroi drops single How Does It Feel

THE Kid Laroi has released his new single How Does It Feel via Columbia Records. The Grammy-nominated, multi-platinum artiste announced the single on social media, attracting buzz from eager fans. The track features a special appearance from renowned musician Thundercat, playing the song’s hypnotic baseline. Laroi also dropped the flirty new video counterpart starring actress Talia Ryder alongside himself, directed by Calmatic (Kendrick Lamar, The Rolling Stones), showcasing his smooth dance moves at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. How Does It Feel follows Laroi’s first release this year All I Want Is You . Last year, he released the deluxe version of his full-length debut album The First Time , featuring five new tracks. He also embarked on The First Time Tour, which brought him across Europe, North America and Australia. He released three new singles: Girls , which he debuted live on tour ahead of the release Aperol Spritz , and ended the year with Slow It Down , featuring Quavo. Laroi was also recently featured on Tate McRae’s new album with their song I Know Love .

Disrupted hails from Sweden. – PIC FROM INSTAGRAM @DISRUPTED

Lousy name, great band

way it churns out death metal the old fashioned way. Hot, slightly greasy but worth every morsel as the band goes through the paces with a practised efficiency. Stinking Death does exactly what it says on the tin – old school death metal played fast and furious, all wrapped in that glorious sound of the Swedish underground. Getting the sound right is a hugely important ingredient in Swedish death metal and Disrupted can proudly say it got it right. Stinking Death is a fantastic example of the Scandinavian country’s proud metal heritage. It may not win many awards for originality but few bands, if any, ever get into old school death metal with the intention of reinventing the wheel. Disrupted’s Stinking Death has been released on the Trust No One Recordings and can be sampled on all major streaming sites. – by R.BALA

ALBUM REVIEW

ANOTHER great band to emerge from Sweden’s seemingly never-ending pool of death metal talent, Disrupted is a pretty weak moniker. Yes, the scene is saturated and all the good band names are taken but surely the band can do better. What is not in question though is the quality of the music on offer. This is album number three from the quintet formed in 2012 in Ludvika, Dalarna. Disrupted is all about creating that ideal crunchy riff that Swedes seem to have flowing through their veins. Just like Impurity and LIK, bands with similarly bland brandings, Disrupted have got the tone just right. Like an exceptional deep fried chicken with an ultra-crispy skin, this album is deeply satisfying in the

The Kid Laroi is a Grammy-nominated Australian rapper.