Label: Partisan Records
Released: 27th September 2024
There are few British bands that are as explosively exciting as Ezra Collective. Becoming the first jazz act to win the Mercury Prize with ‘Where I’m Meant To Be’, the group are back with their third album, ‘Dance, No One’s Watching’.
Loosely separated into four parts, each representing a different section of a night out dancing in a sweaty jazz club, it is an album that soars across the jazz-funk spectrum. ‘The Herald’ and ‘Palm Wine’ get the blood pumping, firing the starter’s pistol from minute one with their unique brand of jazz, combining syncopated Caribbean drumming with classic jazz trumpet and scorching saxophone solos.
Not content with simply dominating the jazz scene, ‘Dance, No One’s Watching’ features forays into various subgenres, all done with now-characteristic ease and nonchalance that point to a band in their prime. ‘Streets is Calling’ is an instant dancehall classic, whilst lead single ‘God Gave Me Feet For Dancing’ is full of enough soulful Afro-funk to get anybody up and onto the dancefloor. Elsewhere, as the night slowly ebbs away, ‘Why I Smile’ and ‘Have Patience’ sparkle with a soft brilliance that rounds off this celebratory record.
Every one of the nineteen songs on this monster LP is an unmissable paragraph in this latest Ezra Collective chapter. Ezra Collective continue to grow, to evolve, and to shine brighter than ever before.
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