Graham Reid | | <1 min read
Shaking Body
Britain's jazz-cum-world music ensemble Ezra Collective have gone from strength to strength in the past three years, their 2022 album Where I'm Meant To Be won the Mercury Prize which I believe the first time a jazz group has picked up that award.
Guests on that album included Sampa the Great and Emile Sande.
On this double album – after a short dubby intro which could have slipped out of a Fat Freddy's session – they take their music on a frequent flyer tour through West Africa rhythms (Ajala recorded in Lagos taps the spirit of Fela's rolling groove), Palm Wine refers to the mercurial and light guitar music of Sierra Leone, soul R'n'B singer Yazmin Lacey brings her smooth sound to God Gave Me Feet For Dancing and the whole package brings irresistible beat-driven soul and jazz to the dancefloor.
Straightforward it may be but you can't help but be swept up by material like the galloping rhythm and horn-blast of Hear My Cry, the Afro-Cuban sound of Shaking Body and . . . Just a lotta great playing.
It's not all energetic dance (the subtle sophisticated stealth of pianist Joe Armon-Jones on Why I Smile) and the final piece is a quiet ballad Everybody which Armon-Jones introduces as the waiters clear tables after the crowd has gone, then the horn players come surging back from backstage for a heroic flourish to end on.
Hugely enjoyable.
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You can hear and buy this album at bandcamp here
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