Transportation to the swanky ‘n’ swingin’ jazz club of your dreams awaits via our guests Ezra Collective. The London-based quintet inhabits the Annenberg Performance Studio as though it were their neighborhood spot. Sonorous bass, extended jams, and love for KCRW’s resident grand piano abound as the group fills the room with rapturous live interpretations of their 2022 album Where I’m Meant To Be. We’re also treated to “Pure Shade” from 2018’s introductory comp of London’s crackling young jazz scene; We Out Here (via Brownswood Recordings).
Drummer and bandleader Femi Koleoso, along with his brother (and the band’s bassist) TJ Koleoso also take a beat to drop some serious knowledge on Novena Carmel: How they make their music using “the slingshot effect — the further you go back [in time/influence], the further you can propel forward;” the impact that a recent obsession with Chicago House music is having on their sound; and taking drum lessons from Afro-beat pioneer Tony Allen.
Elsewhere in the program, check out a brand new Latin-jazz extravaganza from Australian polymath David Versace, and an encore spin of Global Beat: México alum Karen y Los Remedios’ “Mi Gran Dolor.” Plus, experimental mastermind Yves Tumor drops another absolute banger from his forthcoming LP (taking copious notes from the Fiona Apple school of album titling) Praise a Lord Who Chews but Which Does Not Consume; (Or Simply, Hot Between Worlds).