Nubya Garcia

Nubya Garcia works from London as a saxophonist, composer, and bandleader who ranks among the foremost figures in the United Kingdom’s club culture and jazz communities. Beyond fronting her own groups she has appeared on recordings and performances by Makaya McCraven’s transcontinental ensembles and has also collaborated with drummer Moses Boyd together with producer/toaster Congo Natty. Additional credits include Theon Cross’ trio as well as the ensembles Maisha and Nerija. The 2017 debut EP Nubya’s 5ive sold out inside a single day, while the follow-up release When We Are EP reached the British charts in 2018. Recognition arrived with the widely praised full-length debut Source in 2020, after which she issued the remix collection Source: We Move the next year. During the two years that followed she released multiple singles and teamed with Khruangbin for Live at Radio City Music Hall in 2023. Odyssey, her next full-length album, appeared the year after and presented orchestral arrangements that united jazz, R&B, and dub while showcasing guest appearances by Esperanza Spalding and Georgia Ann Muldrow.

Born to Caribbean immigrant parents, Garcia and her siblings obtained a thorough and disciplined grounding in music. She began with violin before switching to viola for membership in the London Schools Symphony Orchestra, then took up saxophone at the age of ten. Displaying immediate facility, she entered the Camden Jazz Band and subsequently joined the junior jazz program at the Royal Academy of Music. She further participated in workshops offered by Tomorrow’s Warriors under Gary Crosby’s direction. While still a student she earned a scholarship to the Berklee College of Music summer program in Boston. Returning to London she completed her bachelor’s degree at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, where she was recognized as “a jazz instrumentalist with distinction.”

After gaining experience on the London club circuit alongside like-minded players ranging from Hutchings, Boyd, and Cross to Ezra Collective, Emanative, and Kamaal Williams, she joined drummer Jake Long’s sextet Maisha for the 2016 EP Welcome to a New Welcome. In 2017 she also became a member of the all-female jazz-funk septet Nérija and issued the self-released mini-album Nubya’s 5ive, which sold out within twenty-four hours and required an immediate repress. Hutchings featured her on the 2018 Brownswood compilation We Out Here that documented the new British jazz wave curated by Gilles Peterson, the same year Maisha released their debut full-length There Is a Place. Later that year Garcia issued her own follow-up When We Are, containing two original tracks plus remixes by K15 and Maxwell Owin, and she toured both as a leader and alongside McCraven’s transcontinental big band. In 2019 she received the Jazz FM Breakthrough Act of the Year Award, the Sky Arts Breakthrough Act of the Year Award, and the Jazz FM U.K. Jazz Act of the Year Award.

The year 2020 brought an invitation to the twelve-piece London Brew collective of London jazz musicians who staged concerts marking the fiftieth anniversary of Miles Davis’s Bitches Brew; fellow participants included Tom Herbert, Tom Skinner, Dave Okumu, Shabaka Hutchings, and Cross. Three days of studio sessions followed those performances. North America’s Concord Records placed her on its jazz roster and released the digital single “Pace” to mark the late-May signing. Produced by Garcia in partnership with Kwes, the debut long-player Source arrived in August and explored contemporary jazz through soul, Afrobeat, and dubstep. Its club-oriented elements received further treatment on the 2021 remix set Source: We Move, which included contributions from Kaidi Tatham, Nala Sinephro, and Georgia Anne Muldrow, while seven additional singles appeared that year, among them “Cumbia Me Está Allamando” featuring La Perla and “Together Is a Beautiful Place to Be.”

Concord issued the self-titled London Brew album in 2023, documenting the results of those earlier studio dates. During 2024 Garcia appeared on Jake Long’s City Swamp EP and pianist Joe Armon-Jones’ Wrong Side of Town EP. Armon-Jones reciprocated in September 2024 by serving as pianist, joined by bassist Daniel Casimir and drummer Sam Jones, on Garcia’s sophomore studio album Odyssey. The twelve-track collection combined chamber and orchestral arrangements with R&B, jazz, and dub. Produced again by Garcia alongside Kwes, the record featured Esperanza Spalding on “Dawn,” Georgia Anne Muldrow on “We Walk in Gold,” and trombonist Richie Seivwright on “Set It Free.”