Pochette officielle — Partisan Records
In just a few years, Ezra Collective have gone from great hope of the London jazz scene to one of the most talked-about bands in Britain. On September 11, 2026, the quintet released “Here Because of Hope”, their fourth album, on Partisan Records: seventeen tracks conceived as a single sweeping story, where jazz meets afrobeat, reggae, calypso and hip-hop. It is their most ambitious, generous and personal record yet.
A London quintet turned national phenomenon
Formed in 2016 out of the Tomorrow’s Warriors program, Ezra Collective is built around drummer and bandleader Femi Koleoso, his brother TJ Koleoso on bass, Joe Armon-Jones on keys, Ife Ogunjobi on trumpet and James Mollison on tenor saxophone. In 2023 they became the first jazz act ever to win the Mercury Prize, Britain’s most closely watched award, for “Where I’m Meant to Be.” Two years later they did it again, named Group of the Year at the BRIT Awards — another first for a jazz band. Along the way, Barack Obama slipped their track “God Gave Me Feet for Dancing” into his favourite songs of 2024. The result is a band the British press now routinely calls one of the country’s biggest. From small London jazz clubs to the main stages of Glastonbury, their reputation was built live, in a singular knack for turning a gig into a collective celebration that few of their peers can match.
A record in three movements, from Africa to London
“Here Because of Hope” is not just a sequence of songs. The album plays out as a journey in three movements, tracing the movement of Black people from one continent to another: from the music of Africa to the rhythms of the Caribbean, all the way to the London streets where the band grew up. Three spoken-word interludes, voiced by actor Letitia Wright, bind the chapters together and give the record the scale of a fresco. The follow-up to “Dance, No One’s Watching” (2024) takes on a more spiritual dimension, without losing an ounce of the dancefloor energy that built the band’s live reputation. Across its seventeen tracks, the record keeps reaching for uplift rather than gloom — an act of faith as much as a body of music.
The guests extend that diaspora map: British rapper Pa Salieu, Jamaican singer Lila Iké, soul voice Leona Lewis and artist Libianca each leave their mark on a track. The collaborations never feel bolted on: they belong to the narrative, like stops along the road the music traces. It is also what links Ezra Collective to fellow British figure Jorja Smith, or to the soul vein recently explored by Erykah Badu and The Alchemist.
“Only Love,” joy as a guiding line
Lead single “Only Love”, featuring Pa Salieu, set the tone back in the spring. Carried by sun-drenched horns and an irresistible groove, it came with a video shot in Lagos, Nigeria, celebrating movement and community. It is the Ezra Collective signature in a nutshell: music that is seriously crafted yet never too serious to make you dance, drawing freely on Fela Kuti’s legacy and on London rap alike.
With “Here Because of Hope,” the band confirm they are far from done widening the audience for jazz, well beyond the purists. It is a record about roots, resilience and hope — the title does not lie — and one that, festival after festival, should keep Ezra Collective among the most joyful bands to catch live today. More than that, it cements a quiet revolution: a jazz band reaching a mainstream, multi-generational audience on its own terms, without watering down a single thing that makes it special.
