Ife Ogunjobi Interview

Just put yourself in these shoes for a hot second: It's Sunday; you're in Wales; It's surprisingly not raining; for a solid hour you have relentlessly poured sultry, sonic vibrations upon a jam-packed crowd; the crowd, in turn, have received these sonic vibrations extremely positively, so much so, they have had to resort to an old technique often referred to as 'dancing', which is said to help with the digestion of raw, unadulterated energy; and now imagine it's your goddamn 19th birthday. Yes ladies and gents, these are the circumstances, and yes, Ife Ogunjobi was the man who strolled in those sneakers. 

Ife is a younger name within the ever-growing London scene of musicians proudly taking jazz to newfound, glorious territory. Currently sitting in for Dylan Jones, the teenage trumpeter has cemented himself a pretty comfortable spot within the amalgamation which is Ezra Collective. The jazz quintet, who class themselves as a band who sit somewhere between Skepta and Sun Ra, fully champion the idea that jazz isn't anything to be afraid of... jazz is something to be embraced; jazz is for everyone. 

Slider and the Goose had the privilege of having a quick chat with trumpeter Ife Ogunjobi moments after Ezra Collective's lusty performance on the Far Out stage at Green Man festival. 

Ife, thank you so much for meeting me in the heart of the Brecon Beacons, Green Man festival, could you just describe to me how that show was? 

Ife: That show was amazing man. It was the last show of our festival tour this year, and we’ve played a lot of festivals, I can definitely… I can say that was THE most responsive crowd we’ve had. The energy was right, the sound was good man, the vibes were good so it was an amazing show.

As a trumpeter, would you mind telling me your biggest inspirations? 

Ife: Biggest inspirations would probably be Freddie Hubbard, Clifford Brown, Wynton Marsalis, Keyon Harrold, Christian Scott… the list goes on man.

Donald Byrd? 

Ife: Donald Byrd’s a badman, Nicholas Payton, Lou Mitchell… literally, I would just name everyone.

Are you going to be releasing any new music in the coming months, and putting a band together? 

Ife: Yeah so I’ve got a band together and we’ve already starting doing shows. So that’ll be coming around soon. Music… you can expect hear some new music in the near future, maybe in a year or so. There’s gigs coming about, you’ll see gigs before you see music.

How did you start playing with Ezra Collective? 

Ife: So I’ve known Femi (Ezra Collective drummer) since I was 14… I knew him through this organisation called Kinetika Bloco, where basically young people champion young people playing music... all different styles of music in this summer school in August. So I met Femi through there and then we just kept in contact and we’ve just been boys since.

Love it. So Ife, if you could make one album with any jazz musicians – dead or alive, what would be your ultimate line up? 

Ife: Art Blakey on drums, Freddie Hubbard –

You have to fit yourself into the band on trumpet as well… 

Ife: Oooooh that’s hard… Oooh alright… Thundercat on bass, Art Blakey on drums, the combination might not work that well but these are just my favourite musicians. Herbie (Hancock) on keys. On sax, I’d probably say Kenny Garret… yeah man that would probably be it.

What do you have planned for the rest of your summer? 

Ife: So the rest of the summer… like I said we’ve finished the festival tour now so just chillin’, having good vibes. We’ve got the UK tour in November, US tour in December… and then yeah just doing stuff with my own band, doing more stuff with Joe Armon-Jones.

Best solo you've ever seen? 

Ife: Best solo I've ever heard live would be Marcus Printup with the Jazz at the Lincoln Center and Wayne Shorter at the Barbican. It was so amazing because of the story he tells and the energy and vibe he played with. You could feel it all live. 

Cheers Ife, again, I would just like to say a massive thank you for your time in meeting Slider and the Goose on your birthday. 

Ife: I appreciate that man.

Ife Ogunjobi, the birthday boy. 

Slider & the Goose