At Sussex's Love Supreme festival last weekend, Femi Koleoso and James Mollison of British jazz figureheads Ezra Collective joined Ammar Kalia for a wide-ranging conversation on their artistry, the power of the dancefloor, and hopes for the future of British music.
Dancefloor Synergy and Memorable Nights
Koleoso noted that “dancefloors are dancefloors, whether it’s people with instruments or people with turntables, there’s a synergy between all those spaces.” The pair reminisced about favourite dancefloor memories: Mollison mentioned east London’s now-shuttered Passing Clouds, while Koleoso recalled north London’s University of Dub night at the Scala and Sunday sessions at the Haggerston pub, where a jazz jam coincided with a disco night. “I was so conflicted on which room to go to!” he said.
Meeting Mentor Tony Allen
The Haggerston proved pivotal: it was where drummer Koleoso first connected with his future mentor, Afrobeat innovator Tony Allen. “I was playing at the jazz jam one night and someone came up to me afterwards and said they liked how I was playing and asked who my favourite drummer was,” Koleoso said. “I told them Tony Allen and he just laughed. Later that night, he came up to me with a phone and there was Tony on the other end of the line. I asked him if he could teach me how to play drums and he told me to be at his house the following Friday.”
Not realising Allen lived in Paris, Koleoso spent months taking overnight Megabus journeys from London to the French capital for weekly practice sessions. “He focused on teaching me how to take things away in my playing rather than adding them,” Koleoso said. “I recorded some of those lessons on my phone and I still listen back to them now and think about how I can add more space. Sometimes you have to play music rather than drums.”
Memorable Gigs: From Lagos to Tokyo
Taking questions from Guardian readers, the duo reflected on favourite performance locations. At Fela Kuti’s Shrine in Lagos, Nigeria, “it’s total mayhem, playing a night there ages you about a decade,” Koleoso said. At Fuji Rock in Tokyo, “that’s the only time we’ve ever felt we might have to take down the energy to calm the crowd,” Mollison said. “Before we went on stage it was so peaceful and beautiful but as soon as we started they were crowd surfing. We unleashed chaos!”
Community Over Government Dependence
Fierce advocates of youth clubs and grassroots arts support, the duo took an impassioned tone when answering a reader’s question about budget cuts. “We each need to see ourselves as pillars of the community, so if you have access to an instrument and can play it, teach someone who can’t and invite them to be part of it,” Koleoso said. “Where we go wrong is the dependence on local authorities, governments and institutions, when we can take it upon ourselves to be that change, rather than wait for it to happen. It’s that mindset shift that’s most important.”
Love Supreme and New Album
They first came to Love Supreme as teenagers in 2013. “It’s a space that’s all about understanding how jazz is a big word,” Koleoso said. “It’s a music that can mean Ella Fitzgerald as much as Robert Glasper or even Earth Wind & Fire, who headlined one of the nights I was at. We want to bring that diversity to everyone.”
Koleoso and Mollison closed with details about their forthcoming fourth album, Here Because of Hope, releasing in September. “It’s been a wonderful blessing as a band to be associated with joy and happiness, but the approach to this record was being honest about when you feel pain,” Koleoso said. “There have been moments of devastating pain felt across the band in recent years, from things happening in the world to losing a child at a youth club, which I wouldn’t wish on anyone. The record was born from trying to bring joy while suffering and it’s an important reminder to enjoy each other’s company – to always love each other rather than hate.”
