Birmingham’s Mostly Jazz Funk and Soul Festival 2025 wound up on Sunday night (13 July 2025) with a stunning set from the biggest name in British jazz, the multi-award-winning Ezra Collective.
The London-based quintet, who recently won Group Of The Year 2025 at the BRIT Awards, wowed a capacity crowd with a 90 minute appearance that perfectly showcased their stunning musical virtuosity. Pausing mid-set, they praised the festival for it’s diversity and sense of family, and stressed the importance of unity and connection.
With the UK in the throes of a heatwave, the three-day outdoor Mostly Jazz enjoyed temperatures of up to 32°C, prompting good audiences for the festival’s third and fourth stages – the canopy-covered Leftfoot Stage and tree-surrounded The Woods. These shaded areas showcased a range of DJ guests including female collective Selextorhood, Harrsn Ft House Gospel Choir, and The Hussain Brothers, whose bhangra selection kept dancers moving.
The long-running festival got off to a great start on Friday 11 July 2025 with ecstatically received DJ sets from Groove Armada and Black Country drum’n’bass pioneer Goldie, prior to a triumphant appearance from melodic electronic duo Maribou State – back in action after a brief career break, with the band declaring from the stage that it was “an honour and a privilege” to close the first day.
Meanwhile, Saturday 12 July 2025 saw Mostly Jazz welcome crowd-pleasing slots from African Afrobeat star and activist Seun Kuti and Egypt 80 and legendary US 1970s funk/ soul/ fusion band, War, with broadcaster Craig Charles’ inclusion of Bill Withers’ Lovely Day perfectly summing up the Mostly vibe.
Other highlights across the weekend included soul singer-songwriter Jalen Ngonda, back at Mostly Jazz after appearing lower down the line-up in 2018, MT Jones, Tom McGuire and The Brassholes, Birmingham hip hop artist Kofi Stone, the brass/rock Big Band Of Boom, and sci-fi influenced Diddy Sweg.
Mostly Jazz Funk and Soul Festival’s Manager, John Fell, said: “It was certainly the sunniest Mostly any of us can remember, and there were some incredible performances, including Jalen Ngonda, Groove Armada, War – in our ‘legends’ spot – and, of course, Ezra Collective, who are one of the biggest acts right now.
“The demand for tickets this year was also phenomenal too. Even though we slightly reconfigured the site, so we could help cope with demand and increase capacity, we still sold out of Weekend tickets over a month before the festival. We had record numbers attending!”
Mostly Jazz Funk and Soul Festival returns next year from Friday 10 Sunday 12 July 2026. Tickets are on sale to previous attendees and email subscribers now, and on general sale from 10am Friday 18 July 2025. To find out more, see: mostlyjazz.co.uk