Read Ezra Collective’s full Mercury Prize 2023 speech

Ezra Collective won the 2023 Mercury Prize for their album ‘Where I’m Meant To Be’ last night (September 7) – read their full acceptance speech below.

• READ MORE: Ezra Collective on their impact on the jazz scene and plans to celebrate their Mercury Prize win

The jazz collective were outsiders to clinch the prize going into tonight’s (September 7) ceremony beating off favourites Jockstap, Loyle Carner and Young Fathers at London’s Eventim Apollo.

After the band were announced as winners by Jamz Supernova, bandleader and drummer Femi Koleoso then thanked their manager, fans and more, before extending thanks to the musical education instutitions around the UK that helped the members of the band, and thousands of others, begin a career in music.

Watch and read the speech in full below.

“First of all, let me thank god because, if a jazz band winning the Mercury Prize doesn’t make you believe in God, I don’t know what will. Secondly, there’s five of us represented right now, but Ezra Collective represents an entire family.

“We need to make some noise for our super mum, our manager, Amy. I’m talking about Marco, Jeremy, Temi, the whole live crew. Big up every single mum and dad represented across the band.

“Most importantly, Ezra Collective represents something really special because we met in a youth club. This moment that we’re celebrating right here is testimony to good, special people putting time and effort into [helping] young people to play music.

“Right now, this is not just a result for Ezra Collective – this is not just a result for UK jazz – but this is a special moment for every single organisation across the country ploughing their efforts and time into young people playing music.

“Big up Tomorrow’s Warriors, big up Kinetika Bloco, big up the BRIT School, big up ELAM (East London Arts and Music), big up Jubilee Youth, big up AudioActive. Let me tell you something really serious: we’ve got something special in the UK. We’ve got something special by the way of young musicians, so let’s continue to support that. EZ to the world!”

Speaking to NME on the red carpet before the ceremony, the band discussed what they would do if they won the Mercury Prize.

Koleoso said: “I’ll probably give the boys a good hug and then we’ll take it from there. We’ll probably end up booking Ubers to someone’s house. I don’t know man, I mean it might even just be 24-hour McDonald’s and see it out, you know?

“I mean McFlurry’s everywhere and then call it a day. I don’t know if you can really plan too tough.”

He added: “Yo, McDonald’s in Enfield Road Retail Park, it’s like it’s a club! It’s a whole vibe, you could go there at 3am, you could get there at 4am — let’s go there. That’s what we’re doing!

“We’re gonna go there because there’s a Krispy Kreme opposite that’s 24 hours. Legendary. The first one in the country… So, yeah, probably just head there and see what happens!”

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