Ezra Collective performing at WOMAD 2020 Photo: Isabella Brown
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British jazz ensemble Ezra Collective have in a short time endeared themselves to a new, younger audience of jazz lovers…so much so that the group are heralded for ushering in a new-wave of UK jazz music.
Although totally unknown to the majority of people who attended their Saturday midday opening slot on a glorious Taranaki day, Ezra Collective received a warm reception from the crowd which went on to fuel significant word-of-mouth of their jazz repertoire.
In just five years the band, who formed in a London youth club, have honed musical skills that sees them drawing on elements of afrobeat, Latin, hip-hop, grime and the jazz giants from Britain and America.
On stage the five-piece band are a tour-de-force whose thrilling and unmistakably London sound has already seen them tour the UK and USA - performing at Glastonbury, the Blue Note Club in New York and at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland: part of an all-night jam session celebrating the 85th birthday of Quincy Jones.
And now for a New Zealand audience at WOMAD 2020.
All hail the new face of British jazz!
Song Titles: The Philosopher, Chris & Jane, Space is the place, Quest for Coin, Sao Paulo, You Can’t Steal My Joy, Zombie, Water Hot No Enemy, Samuel L Riddim, King of the Jungle, Red Whine, Joan Pablo.
Recorded and produced by Darryl Stack for RNZ Music