The SWG3 Galvinizers arena was injected with energy as Ezra Collective’s Where I’m Meant To Be tour reached Glasgow on Sunday, February 19th. A celebration of heartfelt joy, the self-proclaimed “Ezra Collective Afro beats Party” intended to turn a room of strangers temporarily into family. The brass was warm and filling. The call-and-response dynamic from the rhythm section transcended from their instruments to their stage presence. By the time TJ Koleoso (bass), James Mollison (tenor saxophone), and Ife Ogunjobi (trumpet) climbed down from the stage and performed ‘Victory Dance’ from within the crowd, the band’s infectious joie-de-vivre had spread across the dancefloor. Even the security lost their inhibitions and danced along.
The following is an interview with TJ Koleoso, Ezra Collective’s bass player, from after the show.
Mahika Ravi Shankar: You kept associating tonight’s crowd with a rave – is transcending ‘jazz’ in the traditional sense important to what you guys are about? Do you think the aura of exclusivity usually associated with the genre has somewhat died down?
TJ Koleoso: I don’t think jazz was ever meant to be exclusive. It started off being played in the streets, in marching bands, and was meant to be accessible to everyone – especially the poorer and lower-class people. In terms of transcending the word ‘jazz’, we’re probably going back to the core of what jazz really is: blending different genres under the umbrella of improvisation, and allowing people to dance to that.
MR: You mentioned that this album was made during a difficult time – can you expand on that? Do you have any comments on the notion that, as an artist, the only worthwhile thing you can do with pain is commodify it?
TK: Something that we look at is the idea that joy isn’t a circumstance, joy is a perspective. And we really try hard to keep hold of and hone that perspective of joy. What that really means is, you can look at things from a number of different perspectives. Sometimes when we go through loss, we can look at that as some kind of ultimate doom, but maybe within that loss, there’s an oppurtunity for new growth. That’s what I mean by the perspective of joy. That is really central to what we do as artists.
Art is just the best way we have of showing other humans how we see the world. There’s something intangible about art which means that people can identify with it, even though they weren’t in the same situation as you. So as musicians, we feel that there is a mantra and a mandate for us to actually show this perspective of pain through music – and through joy.
MR: What were your influences in making Where I’m Meant To Be? I more mean regarding the multiculturalism of the album, which was one of my favourite things about it.
TK: Having the privilege of touring the world, we get introduced to so much music. I think the most important thing is the approach – we’re very open-minded, and nothing’s off the cards. Whenever I listen to music, I’m thinking: how does it make me feel, and how does it make me feel like that?
I’m looking forward to being in Asia. Going to record stores and checking out what they’ve got in their crates, speaking to curators or DJs around the area, and asking who some of the dope artists in the area are… those are the kind of questions we ask when we’re going around, and you end up finding some really interesting stuff.
MR: What was the impact of COVID on your process?
TK: The album was written during lockdown, which was a tough time for a lot of people, but our livelihood is music, and that was completely brought to a standstill. I think maybe one positive to come out of COVID is that the message of what we’re doing got solidified, and the love for what we’re doing intensified. When it was gone it was like “woah”, and now we’re back, we understand the immense privilege it is to step on stage.
MR: Which artist do you most want to collaborate with next?
TK: No one specific man, there’s so many different artists who I love. People like Little Simz, Moses Sumney. I think it’s in those moments of collaboration that you sharpen each other’s tools and come up with something new.
MR: Who is your current or past favourite musician?
TK: I’ve got a lot… Fela [Kuti] is obviously a massive inspiration, it’s who I grew up listening to. Kirk Franklin, Stevie Wonder – I love their music. People like Jaco Pastorius, just from a bass perspective. I listen to a lot of worship music as well, so yeah, people like Hillsong. Any music that moves me basically, is the music I like to check in with.
MR: If you were to meet anyone, dead or alive, who would it be?
TK: That’s a difficult one. Maybe Bob Marley. He seemed like quite a sound dude, and quite a profound one, so yeah, I’d love to spend some time with him.
Image: “Ezra Collective” by Justin de Nooijer is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0.