Ezra James grew up in Modesto, California, in a household where music was already in the walls. He picked up the drums around age 10 — not because someone told him to, but because it was inevitable. When you’re raised around that much music, it grabs ahold of you eventually.
In TAKA, his job is simple and everything at once: make music. Anything that puts you in a mood, anything that makes you feel something. He doesn’t box himself in. “Anything and everything, as long as it puts you in a mood. We making mood music.”
His deepest love is jazz. The way a jazz record moves — constantly in motion, never repeating itself, flowing like a river — is something he keeps coming back to. It’s unpredictable in the best way, alive in a way that a lot of music just isn’t. He’ll tell you about it if you let him. Actually, he’ll tell you about it either way.
Listen to more jazz.