Nubya Garcia: Not Just London's Best Tenor Sax
Odyssey is one of the best jazz albums of 2024.
It was my last night in London and I was on my way to Camden Town to see Nubya Garcia perform live. I had been thinking of this moment since I first arrived in the UK about a week earlier. As I arrived and got in line, I quickly realized that the doors were at 7 p.m. and not the opening act, so I was one of the first to enter Club Koko and made my way up to the front row for a night of eclectic jazz, London-stlye. It was worth the wait.
Nubya Garcia’s latest album is Odyssey. It was released September 20, 2024, on Concord Jazz and it’s a stunning, deeply immersive record in the vein of spiritual jazz but crosses into different worlds of music along the way. Garcia is at the top of her game—no one sounds like this right now. The album is grounded in her signature tenor saxophone sound—fluid, searching, and unrelenting, but what makes it so compelling is how it draws on a global range of rhythms and textures. Each composition is unique, drifting between spiritual jazz, dub, Afro-Caribbean rhythms, and electronic ambient sounds. Garcia’s tone is bold but always feels warm, and her phrasing tells a story, it’s not just filling space. There’s a maturity in her playing here that suggests this album isn’t just a journey—it’s a statement. She mentioned that after her debut full length, Source, she wanted to close that chapter and create a whole new universe with her sophomore album… and she did.
There are a few new faces on tour then those that appeared on the album, but don’t let that stop you from buying a ticket, or purchasing the album. Each one of these musicisians is world class. Sam Jones on drums, same as the album—he’s also one of the best drummers in this new era of jazz alongside Makaya McCraven, Tom Skinner, Daniel Villareal, and Chad Taylor. Joe-Armon Jones is a phenomenal keyboard player, who recorded on the album, but on tour it’s the amazing Lyle Barton (Nala Sinephro, 10:32, Zara McFarlane) that you will see and hear on keys, including the Fender Rhodes. On double-bass we hear Daniel Casmir on the album, but this tour it’s Max Luthert’s brilliance (Partikel, Shabaka Hutchings, Moses Boyd). This group is 100% locked in, pushing and pulling with a kind of effortless elasticity that makes the album come alive. Take a listen to this clip from London:
Having seen her perform both in London and Cambridge, Massachusetts within the past month, it’s clear Odyssey isn’t just a title—it’s a lived experience. The live shows breathe new life into the record. Garcia isn’t just one of the best tenor players out there; she’s one of the most vital voices in jazz right now.
Until next week, thanks for reading!
