Nubya Garcia
Garcia at INNtöne Jazzfestival 2019
Garcia at INNtöne Jazzfestival 2019
Background information
Birth nameNubya Nyasha Garcia
Born1991 (age 32–33)
Camden Town, London, England
GenresJazz
InstrumentsTenor saxophone
Labels
Websitenubyagarcia.com

Nubya Nyasha Garcia (born 1991) is an English jazz musician, saxophonist, composer and bandleader.

Early life and education

Garcia was born in 1991 in Camden Town, London, the youngest of four siblings, to a Guyanese mother, a former civil servant, and a British Trinidadian filmmaker father.[1]

Garcia followed her three older siblings to the local Camden Saturday Music Centre at the age of five, where she first learned the violin and later played the viola in the London Schools Symphony Orchestra (LSSO). Garcia's upbringing by her stepdad, a brass player,[2] and music loving mother, coupled with the music activities at Camden School for Girls,[3] meant she was exposed to multiple genres of music.[4][5][6]

Garcia began learning the saxophone at the age of 10,[5] with Vicky Wright. Garcia became a member of the Camden Jazz Band, directed by jazz pianist Nikki Yeoh, before joining the junior jazz programme at the Royal Academy of Music. She attended the youth music workshops at the Roundhouse in Camden and also with Tomorrow's Warriors under the direction of Gary Crosby. While still in high school, she received a scholarship for a five-week summer programme at the Berklee College of Music in Boston. During her gap year, she studied with former Jazz Messengers member Jean Toussaint. In 2016, Garcia graduated with honours from the Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, in Jazz Performance.[1][7][8] Among her graduating class were Joe Armon-Jones and Moses Boyd.[9][10]

Career

In 2017, Garcia released her debut EP Nubya's 5ive via the label Jazz re:freshed.[11] That year, her band was an opening act at Gilles Peterson's Worldwide Festival in Sète;[12] the following year she played at the NYC Winter Jazz Festival[13] and the JazzFest Berlin.

In her 2018 EP When We Are, Garcia explored how electronics can be used in a live jazz environment; the EP was created with the support of the Steve Reid InNOVAtion Award, a development project between PRS Foundation and Steve Reid Foundation.[14] She is also a member of the collective Nérija[15][16][17] and the Afro-jazz ensemble Maisha.[18][19]

Garcia has performed at festivals in the UK including Love Supreme Jazz Festival[12][20] and NN North Sea Jazz Festival.[21] She has headlined sell-out shows at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club.[22] Since November 2017 Garcia has held monthly radio residency as a DJ on NTS Radio.[23]

Garcia was supposed to perform at the 2020 Glastonbury Festival,[24] which had to be cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[25] In June 2022, Garcia debuted her band on the West Holt stage at Glastonbury.[26]

Garcia released her debut studio album Source in August 2020[27] on the Concord Jazz label. The album was listed on several end of 2020 top album lists. In July 2021, Garcia's album Source was shortlisted for the 2021 Hyundai Mercury Prize.[28]

Nubya Garcia debuted her band on 18 August at the 2021 BBC Proms held in London's Royal Albert Hall. The Daily Telegraph gave the performance a five-star review.[29][30]

In December 2020, Garcia joined a band of British jazz musicians called London Brew to play on the Bitches Brew-inspired self-titled album, which was announced for release on 31 March 2023 by Concord Jazz.[31]

Musical influences

Nubya Garcia has cited the prominent jazz saxophonists Dexter Gordon, Sonny Rollins and John Coltrane, as well as trumpeter Miles Davis and pianist-composer Mary Lou Williams, as her "musical heroes".[32][33] She included Steel Pulse, a UK based reggae band from Birmingham amongst her musical inspirations.[34]

Charitable work

Nubya Garcia is a patron of the Camden Music Trust.[35]

Discography

Albums

Singles & EPs

  • "When We Are" EP (2018)[39]
  • "Pace" single (2020)
  • "Source" single (2020)

Awards and nominations

YearOrganisation/AwardCategoryResultRef
2017PRS FoundationSteve Reid Innovation AwardWon[40]
British Jazz AwardsRising StarNominated[41]
Jazz FM AwardsUK Breakthrough ActNominated[42]
2018Jazz FM AwardsUK Breakthrough ActWon[43]
South Bank Sky Arts AwardTimes Breakthrough ActWon[44]
British Jazz AwardsRising StarNominated[45]
2019Jazz FM AwardsUK Jazz Act of the YearWon[46]
Jazz FM AwardsEFG London Jazz Festival Live Experience of the YearNominated[47]
2020Parliamentary Jazz AwardsJazz Instrumentalist of the YearNominated[48]
Urban Music AwardsBest Jazz ActNominated[49]
2021Parliamentary Jazz AwardsJazz Instrumentalist of the YearWon[50]
Parliamentary Jazz AwardsJazz Album of the YearNominated[51]
Urban Music AwardsBest Jazz ActNominated[52]
Jazz FM AwardsAlbum of the yearNominated[53]
Mercury PrizeAlbum of the YearNominated[54]
JTI AWARDJTI Trier Jazz AwardWon[55]

References

  1. 1 2 Harris-Stoute, Cloyette (21 July 2018). "She Rocks! Meet Nubya Garcia, Award Winning Jazz Saxophonist & Composer". Guyanese Girls Rock!. Retrieved 29 September 2019.
  2. ↑ Ryan, Rob (13 July 2017). "Trailblazing jazz hands of Nubya". Camden New Journal. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
  3. ↑ "News about CSG Alumni". The Camden School for Girls. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
  4. ↑ "Gilles Peterson with Nubya Garcia (Europe)". 19 December 2017 – via YouTube.
  5. 1 2 "Nubya Garcia". Dark Arts London. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
  6. ↑ "Nubya Garcia – Lost Kingdoms & Fly Free | Red Bull Music". 19 March 2018. Retrieved 14 October 2020 – via YouTube.
  7. ↑ "September Alumni Roundup". Trinity Laban. 6 October 2020. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
  8. ↑ Hutchinson, Kate (15 February 2018). "One to watch: Nubya Garcia". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
  9. ↑ https://www.trinitylaban.ac.uk/alumni/alumni-profiles/moses-boyd
  10. ↑ https://www.trinitylaban.ac.uk/alumni/alumni-profiles/joe-armon-jones/
  11. ↑ "Nubya Garcia Releases Her Debut Solo EP "Nubya's 5ive"". Music Is My Sanctuary. 17 May 2017. Retrieved 7 October 2019.
  12. 1 2 Peterson, Gilles (29 June 2017). "Worldwide Festival 2017!!!!". Gilles Peterson. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
  13. ↑ "Lineup Announced for 2018 Winter Jazzfest in NYC". JazzTimes. 3 November 2017. Retrieved 15 April 2020.
  14. ↑ "Nubya Garcia: Steve Reid InNOVAtion Award". Prsfoundation.com.
  15. ↑ "Blume, by NÉRIJA". NÉRIJA. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
  16. ↑ "Nérija". Rough Trade. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
  17. ↑ Boyd, Lou (17 June 2019). "Learn Why Nubya Garcia is the Next Big Thing in Jazz". Red Bull. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
  18. ↑ "Maisha". AllMusic. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
  19. ↑ "Open The Gates, by Maisha". Maisha. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
  20. ↑ "Nubya Garcia". Love Supreme Festival. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
  21. ↑ "Nubya Garcia". NN North Sea Jazz Festival. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
  22. ↑ "Ronnie Scott's 60th Anniversary Street Party". Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club. 18 June 2020.
  23. ↑ "Nubya Garcia". NTS Radio. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
  24. ↑ "Glastonbury 2020: all you need to know about dates, line-up, tickets and more for the 50th anniversary festival". NME. 13 March 2020. Retrieved 15 April 2020.
  25. ↑ Bakare, Lanre; Morris, Steven (18 March 2020). "Glastonbury 2020: festival cancelled due to coronavirus outbreak". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 15 April 2020.
  26. ↑ "Glastonbury Festival - 2022". Glastonburyfestivals.co.uk.
  27. ↑ "Nubya Garcia". Nubya Garcia.
  28. ↑ "Home". www.mercuryprize.com.
  29. ↑ "Nubya Garcia: The British sax star who is jazzing up the BBC Proms". BBC News. 17 August 2021.
  30. ↑ Hewett, Ivan; Diggins, Alex; Kettle, David; Allison, John; Brown, Mark; Allfree, Claire (2 August 2021). "A thrilling, frustrating George Benjamin premiere at the Proms, plus the best of August's classical concerts". The Telegraph.
  31. ↑ Ruiz, Matthew Ismael (19 January 2023). "Nubya Garcia, Shabaka Hutchings, Tom Skinner, and More Announce Miles Davis Tribute Album London Brew". Pitchfork. Retrieved 25 August 2023.
  32. ↑ NBG Proms, Bigozine2.com
  33. ↑ "Camden New Journal". Edition.pagesuite.com. Retrieved 27 March 2023.
  34. ↑ "Sheroes Mixtape Memoir with Nubya Garcia". Radio.sonos.com. 21 June 2021. Retrieved 30 December 2022.
  35. ↑ "Nubya Garcia | WHO WE ARE". Camdenmusictrust.org.
  36. ↑ "Nubya's 5ive, by Nubya Garcia". Nubya Garcia. Retrieved 9 March 2021.
  37. ↑ "SOURCE, by Nubya Garcia". Nubya Garcia. Retrieved 9 March 2021.
  38. ↑ Flynn, Mike (16 July 2020). "Nubya Garcia goes back to the Source for debut solo album and releases epic title track as first single". Jazzwise. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
  39. ↑ "When We Are, by Nubya Garcia". Nubya Garcia. Retrieved 9 March 2021.
  40. ↑ "Nubya Garcia: Steve Reid InNOVAtion Award". PRS for Music Foundation. Retrieved 30 December 2022.
  41. ↑ "British Jazz Awards 2017 Results Announced". Bigbearmusic.com. 8 November 2017.
  42. ↑ "Jazz FM Awards". Jazzfmawards.com. Retrieved 30 December 2022.
  43. ↑ "2018 Awards". Jazz FM Awards. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
  44. ↑ Mayo, Douglas (1 July 2018). "South Bank Sky Arts Awards 2018 Winners Announced Today". British Theatre. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
  45. ↑ "2018 British Jazz Awards Results". Bigbearmusic.com. 5 November 2018.
  46. ↑ Gilvear, Chris (30 April 2019). "Winners announced for the Jazz FM Awards 2019". Jazz FM. Retrieved 29 September 2019.
  47. ↑ "Jazz FM Awards". Jazzfmawards.com. Retrieved 30 December 2022.
  48. ↑ "Nominations Announced for 2020 Parliamentary Jazz Awards". Londonjazznews.com. 27 May 2020.
  49. ↑ "Nominations for the 17th edition of the annual Urban Music Awards 2020". Urbanmusicawards.co. 20 December 2019.
  50. ↑ Adams, Rob (26 July 2021). "Parliamentary Jazz Awards 2021 winners announced". Londonjazznews.com.
  51. ↑ "Parliamentary Jazz Awards 2021 – Nominees Announced". Londonjazznews.com. 6 July 2021.
  52. ↑ "Kanye West, Dua Lipa, Beyonce, Russ Millions, Dave, Ghetts & Jorja Smith make the shortlist for this year's 18th annual Urban Music Awards". Urbanmusicawards.co. 25 August 2021.
  53. ↑ "Jazz FM Awards". Jazzfmawards.com. Retrieved 30 December 2022.
  54. ↑ Beaumont-Thomas, Ben (22 July 2021). "Mercury prize 2021: first-time nominees dominate shortlist". The Guardian.
  55. ↑ "Nubya Garcia beim JTI Jazz Award". Sr.de. 18 October 2021.
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