You Can't Screw This Up

London five-piece Ezra Collective's debut album. Released via Enter The Jungle.
In the last few years, UK jazz has transitioned from a fringe genre to something being embraced by the mainstream, and at the forefront of this movement is the quintet Ezra Collective. Eschewing elitism, the multi-racial line-up – comprising James Mollison on saxophone, Joe Armon-Jones on keys, brothers Femi and TJ Koleoso on drums and bass and Dylan Jones on trumpet – are redefining what it means to be a jazz act today.

On records like 2010’s Not Like This and 2013’s The Constant One, Long Island punk band Iron Chic came on like your best college bud on a Saturday night loud, boisterous, and down to crush every beer can in sight. But on the forthcoming You Can’t Stay Here, due 10/13, the brawny combo is mired in the depths of an emotional crisis brought on by the death of former member Rob McAllister, who passed away suddenly in 2016 at the age of 36.