Who are Ezra Collective?

Ezra Collective are a jazz collective from London, they rose to prominence through winning the Mercury Prize 2023 with their album Where I'm Meant To Be.

The quintet of jazz instrumentalists, comprising members Femi Koleoso (drummer and band leader), TJ Koleoso (bassist), Joe Armon-Jones (keyboards), Ife Ogunjobi (trumpet) and James Mollison (tenor saxophone) originally met at a youth club project.

Remembering the band's early days, Femi recounted to Official Charts "our first ever 'moment' was as the winners of a competition that got to play a 30 minute set at Ronnie Scott's. We needed a name for our band to play that slot...so Ezra Collective was born. We played a bunch of songs that we liked, and we just never stopped."

Their first appearance on the Official Albums Chart came courtesy of their 2019 debut album You Can't Steal My Joy, but it was their Mercury Prize-winning second album that helped Ezra Collective to their first Top 40 placing, the album peaked at Number 24. 

By October 2024, Ezra Collective kicked it up another gear, breaking the Top 10 for the first time with their third albumDance Noone's Watching. They went on to win Group Of The Year at the 2025 BRIT Awards.  Image: BRITs 2025 / JM Enternational