
Ezra Collective plays jazz for people who came to dance, and it doesn’t apologize for that. That idea has now taken a London quintet to the top of the British charts.
Ezra Collective plays jazz the way a sound system plays records. Afrobeat, calypso, hip-hop and highlife all go through the same five-piece band, and the groove is never optional. The mainstream caught on only recently. Here Because of Hope, their fourth studio album, came out on 11 September 2026 on Partisan Records, and it made them the first UK jazz group to score a No. 1 album. That came on top of the Mercury Prize and BRIT Award they had already won. One track worth listening for is “Well Organised,” featuring Jamaican singer Lila Iké. It’s a reminder that this band’s jazz has always had one foot in the Caribbean.

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