Nubya Garcia

London-based saxophonist, composer, and bandleader Nubya Garcia is one of the leading lights of the U.K.'s club culture and jazz scenes. In addition to leading her own bands, she has performed in and recorded with Makaya McCraven's transcontinental groups, and worked with drummer Moses Boyd and producer/toaster Congo Natty. She's played in Theon Cross' trio, with Maisha, and Nerija. Her 2017 debut EP, Nubya's 5ive, sold out in a day; her follow-up, 2018's When We Are EP, placed on the British charts. She broke through with her widely acclaimed 2020 full-length debut Source, and followed it with the remix collection Source: We Move in 2021. In addition to singles over the next two years, Garcia collaborated with Khruangbin on 2023's Live at Radio City Music Hall. The following year, Garcia released the full-length Odyssey. It boasted orchestral arrangements wedding jazz, R&B, and dub; it included guest appearances by Esperanza Spalding and Georgia Ann Muldrow. Garcia is the daughter of Caribbean immigrants, and along with her siblings, received a grounded and exhaustive musical education. She initially studied violin and moved over to viola to play in the London Schools Symphony Orchestra. She undertook her study of the saxophone at age 10. A natural on the instrument, she joined the Camden Jazz Band and later joined the junior jazz program at the Royal Academy of Music. She also attended the workshops of Tomorrow's Warriors under the direction of Gary Crosby. As a student, she received a scholarship to attend the summer program of the Berklee College of Music in Boston. Back in London, she studied at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, where she received her bachelor's degree and was celebrated as "a jazz instrumentalist with distinction." After spending some time working on the London club scene, where she encountered like-minded musicians from Hutchings, Boyd, and Cross to Ezra Collective, Emanative, and Kamaal Williams, she joined drummer Jake Long's Maisha sextet for the 2016 EP Welcome to a New Welcome. The following year she joined the all-female jazz-funk septet Nérija for their self-titled EP. Also in 2017 she issued the self-released Nubya's 5ive mini-album that sold out in a single day and needed to be repressed. Hutchings included her on We Out Here, a compilation album of the new British jazz issued by Gilles Peterson's Brownswood label in 2018, the same year Maisha issued their debut full-length, There Is a Place. Later that annum she dropped her own follow-up leader date, When We Are, that included two new tracks plus remixes by K15 and Maxwell Owin, and toured on her own and with McCraven's transcontinental big band. In 2019, Garcia won the Jazz FM Breakthrough Act of the Year Award as well as the Sky Arts Breakthrough Act of the Year Award, and took home the Jazz FM U.K. Jazz Act of the Year Award. In 2020, Garcia was recruited for a 12-piece who's who collective of London jazzers who, under the name London Brew, played a series of concerts to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Miles Davis's iconic Bitches Brew. Other members included Tom Herbert, Tom Skinner, Dave Okumu, Shabaka Hutchings, and Cross. Following those shows, they spent three days in recording sessions. North America's Concord Records signed her to its prestigious jazz roster and issued the digital single "Pace" in celebration of the late May announcement. Produced by Garcia in collaboration with Kwes (Bobby Womack, Solange, Nerija), Source, her debut long-player, was issued in August; it offered a multivalent approach to modern jazz through its engagement with soul, Afrobeat, and dubstep. The album's club influences were expanded upon with 2021's Source: We Move, a remix collection featuring artists like Kaidi Tatham, Nala Sinephro, and Georgia Anne Muldrow, and finished the year by releasing seven singles including "Cumbia Me Está Allamando" (feat. La Perla) and "Together Is a Beautiful Place to Be." In 2023, Concord finally an eponymous album showcasing the fruits of London Brew's three days in the studio. In 2024, Garcia appeared on Jake Long's City Swamp EP and pianist Joe Armon-Jones' Wrong Side of Town EP. Armon-Jones returned the favor in September 2024, when he appeared as Garcia's pianist alongside a rhythm section composed of bassist Daniel Casimir and drummer Sam Jones for Garcia's sophomore studio album, Odyssey. The 12-track set melded chamber and orchestral arrangements with R&B, jazz, and dub. Produced by Garcia in collaboration with Kwes, her featured guests were Esperanza Spalding ("Dawn"), Georgia Anne Muldrow ("We Walk in Gold"), and trombonist Richie Seivwright ("Set It Free"). ~ Thom Jurek