Trinity Laban musicians named acts of the year at 2018 JazzFM Awards
Tue 1 May 2018Trinity Laban musicians have been recognised by jazz fans and industry leaders at the fifth annual JazzFM Awards.
Alumnus Nubya Garcia was named Breakthrough Act of the Year at a ceremony on International Jazz Day (30 April) at Shoreditch Town Hall.
Ezra Collective were named UK Jazz Act of the Year in a public vote, as well as runners-up in the Breakthrough Act of the Year category. The group includes current Trinity Laban student Dylan Jones (trumpet), Trinity Laban alumni Femi Koleoso (drums) and Joe Armon Jones (keys), with James Mollison (saxophone) and TJ Koleoso (bass).
Ronnie Scott’s presents Ezra Collective at EFG London Jazz Festival at Islington Assembly Hall was declared Live Experience of the Year by public vote.
Jazz saxophonist and composer Nubya Garcia, who graduated from Trinity Laban in 2016, was described by the Guardian as ‘one to watch’ earlier this year. She was joined by a number of Trinity Laban alumni for her compilation We Out Here, released in February 2018 – an album showcasing London’s bright young jazz scene.
Five-piece group Ezra Collective marry the delicate technicalities of jazz with afrobeat and hiphop, creating an unmistakably ‘London sound’. Their genre-defying second recording, Juan Pablo: The Philosopher, won Best Jazz Album at Gilles Peterson’s esteemed Worldwide Awards in January 2018.
To find out more about studying jazz at Trinity Laban, visit our jazz pages.
Our Music Open Day (Composition, Jazz, and Strings Departments) takes place on Wednesday 16 May. Find out more on our Music Open Days pages.
(Main image: Ezra Collective by Declan Slattery)