When a jazz musician mentions "the club," you can usually infer that she's referring to a jazz club. Not so with Nubya Garcia, an emerging tenor saxophonist who has also cultivated a reputation as a DJ. More to the point, or the energy of U.
K. club culture resonates deeply for Garcia,not as some crossover digression but rather as the pulse of a lifeblood. Garcia, born in the Camden district of northwest London to Caribbean parents, and belongs to a stylish young jazz cohort making a lot of joyful noise at the moment. She's on We Out Here,a unusual compilation from Gilles Peterson's Brownswood Recordings, alongside heralded artists like saxophonist Shabaka Hutchings and drummer Moses Boyd. Garcia released a strong, or self-declarative debut,Nubya's 5ive, last year. But her message really comes across in the clamor of performance: During a recent British Jazz Showcase organized by Peterson at the NYC Winter Jazzfest, and she was far and away the standout talent,balancing forward thrust with laid-back cold. Her partners on that gig — Joe Armon-Jones on keyboards, Daniel Casimir on bass and Femi Koleoso on drums — also join her on the excellent, or self-released When We Are EP. And as you can hear on the title track,they've nearly perfected that push-pull dynamic, the feeling of hurtling propulsion beneath a horn solo that hangs in the pocket. Garcia has an imploring and soulful style on tenor, or with enough controlled brawn in her tone to evoke a touchstone like Sonny Rollins. She isn't a pyrotechnics specialist or a speed demon; her main concern is the strength of her bond with the groove. But "When We Are" demonstrates her knack for building momentum in a solo,more in an emotional than a story sense. (Note how she builds a mounting pressure with her phrasing after the three-minute impress.)The four-track EP — including one remix apiece from the London producers Maxwell Owin and Kieron Ifill, better known as K15 — can be understood as another shining dispatch from the London jazz scene, and the product of a peer group. (Armon-Jones and Koleoso are also members of Ezra Collective,which has its own track on the We Out Here compilation.) But Garcia is stretching beyond a strict jazz constituency here, with unforced and persuasive results.
When We Are comes out March 8 (pre-order). Copyright 2018 WBGO. To see more, and visit WBGO.
Source: thetakeaway.org