Mercury Music Prize

And the winner of the 2023 Mercury Music prize is…….Ezra Collective. Excellent choice. A jazz group winning a major popular music prize shows how the genre is central stage and gives a real filip to events such as the Sidmouth Jazz Festival that I am part of the organising team. Ezra Collective’s album Where I’m meant to be is excellent, mixing afro beat with jazz and hip hop, showing their London roots. Accepting the award, drummer Femi Koleoso thanked Tomorrow’s Warriors and the Total Refreshment Centre community space where the group and the new London Jazz scene emerged. Taking Brian Eno’s concept of Scenius (or group genius) you need free spaces to support collective creativity, central locations where people can hang out and explore their creative selves. I learnt about playing in bands and explored musical styles through having the time and space to explore, experiment. Neoliberal gentrification housing issues that are sweeping our lands are cutting bands like Ezra at source. They will disappear without a proactive moment now to protect community spaces – it is a human need for us all. 

Femi also thanked music education, schools, colleges, tutors who support young musicians to develop and explore their fields. Ezra Collective came through Tomorrow’s Warriors, a school that develops young jazz musicians in London and is expanding their reach across the UK and beyond, helping musicians from underprivileged backgrounds in Devon for example to explore the joys of jazz. In working on the Sidmouth Jazz Festival, I also want to see the expansion of jazz in rural areas, to see urbanities in the fields, swimming in the sea, hanging out on beaches, playing, dancing and listening to music, spreading our rich cultures to all parts. Ezra Collective have just made a big moment in that direction.