Nubya Garcia, a saxophonist and composer, is a distinctive new face of jazz. Her original sound and compelling work earned her a number of awards already at the beginning of her career. The young London woman excels in her ability to reach a wider audience without any musical calculations.
Nubya Garcia has increased the number of distinctive female jazz saxophonists, who include outstanding players such as Melissa Aldana, Tia Fuller, Grace Kelly, and Lakecia Benjamin. “The backbone of what I listen to is dance music and the sound system culture. The point is that people forget that jazz has always been dance music,” she says in an interview with The Red Bulletin. Her debut EP, Nubya’s 5ive, was released in 2017 and was honoured as “outstanding” by The Vinyl Factory. The title track of the following album When We Are (2018) was even labelled one of the “best songs of 2018” by public service broadcaster NPR. In the same year, Garcia also performed in most of the songs on a compilation project We Out Here, which presents and elevates the contemporary progressive and exciting London jazz scene. In 2018, she won an award from Jazz FM and Sky Arts for “Breakthrough of the Year”. Last year she received the “Jazz Band of the Year” award from FM UK. “We begin to blend in every possible way the different kinds of music that we listen to and love. Our power is in the distinctive sound, the type of places where we play, and even in the mix of listeners we get at our concerts. It’s a natural evolution and I like it,” says Garcia.
