#4776, From the Soundcheck Podcast: Ezra Collective and EYOT

From the Soundcheck Podcast series of in-studio performances and interviews, the Ezra Collective plays songs from their album Where I'm Meant To Be and Serbian quartet EYOT performs a newer tune and a throwback.

The London quintet known as Ezra Collective looks like a jazz band, with their dueling horns, keys, bass and drums.  But their music reflects the lively artistic ferment happening now in South London, where the sounds of Caribbean music, hip hop, and especially the Nigerian style known as Afrobeat have all become part of the scene. Ezra Collective’s drummer and bandleader Femi Koleoso studied with the late, great Nigerian drummer Tony Allen, and with his brother TJ on bass, the two Koleosos form a propulsive rhythm section, but one that’s full of surprises. Add in keyboardist Joe Armon-Jones, trumpeter Ife Ogunjobi, and tenor saxophonist James Mollison, and the quintet brings audiences a hybrid jazz with killah beats for dancing. Hear them perform in-studio.

Serbian quartet EYOT draws on traditional Balkan folk music, jazz, classical piano, punk, and art-rock, and fits neatly into none of these categories. Their music - partly composed, and partly improvised - never loses its groove, even as it frequently makes use of the odd rhythm patterns (5/8, 7/8, 9/8) that are part of the turbulent history of the region. EYOT plays a track from their most recent album, 557799, (yep, because of said odd meters contained therein), and more in-studio. - Laura Boyman

Program #4776, From the Soundcheck Podcast: Ezra Collective and EYOT

ARTIST: Ezra Collective
WORK: Ego Killah [3:42]
RECORDING: Recorded for the Soundcheck Podcast, April 2023
SOURCE: This performance is not commercially available
INFO: A version appears on Where I'm Meant To Be

ARTIST: Ezra Collective
WORK: No Confusion [5:04]
RECORDING: Recorded for the Soundcheck Podcast, April 2023
SOURCE: This performance is not commercially available
INFO: A version appears on Where I'm Meant To Be

ARTIST: Ezra Collective
WORK: Belonging [5:07]
RECORDING: Recorded for the Soundcheck Podcast, April 2023
SOURCE: This performance is not commercially available
INFO: A version appears on Where I'm Meant To Be

ARTIST: EYOT
WORK: 557799 [5:57]
RECORDING: Recorded for the Soundcheck Podcast, May 2023
SOURCE: This performance is not commercially available
INFO: A version appears on 557799

ARTIST: EYOT
WORK: Horizon [11:17]
RECORDING: Recorded for the Soundcheck Podcast, May 2023
SOURCE: This performance is not commercially available
INFO: A version appears on Horizon