Nubya Garcia Is a Pottery Girl Now
The 28-year-old tenor saxophonist Nubya Garcia is one of the brightest young talents in the U.K.’s free-flowing jazz scene. Growing up in London’s Camden Town, she picked up the violin at 3 years old and dabbled in piano and clarinet before eventually committing to the saxophone at age 10. She paid tribute to her heritage on her lively, syncretic 2020 debut album, Source, mixing cumbia, reggae, dub, and other Afro-diasporic sounds. Hailed as one of the best jazz albums of the year, it was shortlisted for the 2021 Mercury Prize. Now four years later, she returns with a new album, Odyssey, a sumptuous sprawl of strings, horns, and percussion that includes guest features from vocalists including Esperanza Spalding. She worked with the majority Black Chineke! Orchestra, conducting them herself: “It was a good exercise in knowing that you can do hard things,” she says.
I recently saw Shabaka Hutchings, one of your collaborators and a fellow British saxophonist, playing about seven different types of flute at Blue Note. He was talking about the joys of being a novice. Have you been a novice at anything recently?
I started ceramics a year and a half ago. Having somewhere where you can learn with no pressure is wonderful. You make something — you might keep it, or you might squash it down, put it back in the bucket, and reclaim the clay. Or you might pull a string through the middle, cut it in half, then see, Okay, how did I throw this on the wheel? Someone told me when I was a teenager that Sun Ra sat down at the piano every day and wrote for the creator. When I started this pottery journey, it came back to me, and I was like, Okay, I can make something every day.
Writing this album was completely different from Source. I wasn’t on the road. Having that logistical space allowed me to feel free with writing music, and having another creative output just took the pressure off.
When did you start working on Odyssey?
Things started to take shape probably seriously around 2023. I set out to create a really cinematic world, an epic twisting and turning. And as I wrote more tunes, I started thinking about features and the string parts. It was really wonderful to work with an incredible orchestra, and even down to me conducting it. I wasn’t going to do that.
How was the experience of conducting an orchestra?
It is challenging. I do not have the best coordination. I had a ten-minute fly-by conducting lesson with my old mentor from university. It was good but made me realize, Oh my gosh, I have bitten off more than I can chew. It’s just the action of keeping your right hand the same. But you have to lead people with your other hand, do dynamics and phrasing, with everyone looking to you to guide them. You shouldn’t have to say a word outside the rehearsal. It’s in your body.
So there’s this ongoing communication between you and the orchestra, and you’re responding to each other in the moment. How does that differ from your experience as a jazz bandleader?
The most obvious difference is the amount of people. What makes you a fantastic musician is not only your skill level but, also, are you listening? Are you catching a phrase that I’ve done at the beginning of a solo? Are you quoting the melody? That’s not something that I’ve told you to do, but we have been brought up in the idiom of jazz and improvisational techniques that lots of musicians played and continue to play. It’s a part of music and calls back to this call and response of lots of traditional music. It’s what humans love.
Were there albums that you were thinking about while creating the arrangements?
Not really. But there’s a long-standing thing I listen to called Chicago Waves, by Carlos Niño and Miguel Atwood-Ferguson. I was actually at the gig where they recorded it. Miguel creates these wonderful beds of sound within his string parts. And he builds these whole orchestras himself. I remember being quite moved by the way he spoke about his album Les Jardins Mystiques and his philosophy toward waiting. I think he’s been making that album for 12 to 14 years. It’s like 50 songs.
At what point did your featured vocalists such as Esperanza Spalding or Georgia Anne Muldrow come into the project? And what do you think they brought to the table?
When all of the instrumentals were done. I heard their voices within the music. I feel so inspired by the way they constructed these beautiful stories around these melodies and it provided me with the confidence to write something myself. I wrote something for “Triumphance,” the last track, and performed it, which was brand new for me.
Are there any particular lines or concepts that you want to highlight?
After listening to the melody and seeing the title, “Dawn,” Esperanza thought of the story of Icarus, and she said it felt connected to imposed belief systems that try to scare people into not striving for anything more than their circumstances. I found that really incredible. I really love those lyrics. I like them all. In terms of my lyrics, I really like the one that goes “your journey is yours. See yourself, respect and realize yourself, what yourself is worth.”
You’re also on the harpist Nala Sinephro’s recent album, Endlessness, and you pulled her in for the remix album for Source. What’s your relationship like, and what do you think you get out of being on someone else’s project as opposed to your own?
I met Nala probably seven or eight years ago while she was writing music for a Basquiat exhibition at London’s Hayward Gallery. We’ve been friends ever since. We were working on our records at the same time. I’m a fan and I love her music. Most, if not all, the people in my band have records that they’re working on, and I feel really happy when people ask me, “Hey, come down. I’d love to have you on this track.” It’s really enjoyable for me to turn up and just play.
Do you have any dream collaborators?
I saw Es Devlin’s film Screenshare at a recent exhibition called “Reverb.” It’s a stunning film. The whole screen was made up of a series of sketch pads with several of the same image on each one, and at the end of the film, you could take one with you. I just thought that was such a beautiful way to continue the life of your creative project. So that’s on the top of my mind. I’d love to do something with Jill Scott.
What books are you reading at the moment?
There are three. One is Home Body, a poetry book by Rupi Kaur. I really love her work. I’ve been following her for years, and I seem to miss her every single place she tours. The next book that’s on my table is Salvation: Black People and Love, by bell hooks. And then Black Is Beautiful, an art book by Kwame Brathwaite.
You wear really fun, vibrant outfits onstage. How would you describe your approach to getting dressed?
If I wasn’t in music, I’d probably be a designer. I made clothes at school. I really want to wear more color. When I’m in Brazil, everyone is living loudly, so I’ve kind of brought that energy back with me. I did a gig with a developmental youth group I used to go to and my friend Nicholas Daley designed the most beautiful suit. He’s got the most amazing hats. I love Burberry, Gucci, Luar, Labrum. I am a big Dr. Martens girl onstage. My stylist, who I’ve just started working with, got these black Jimmy Choo ankle boots.
You talk often about occupying nightclubs as well as jazz clubs. What have been some of the best DJ sets you’ve seen recently?
Four Tet and Floating Points were right after me at Forward Festival in Bristol the other day. Seeing their sets, like proper hard energy, is amazing. I love Errol, who co-runs the collective Touching Bass, Shy One, Ruby Savage, Selassie TBC. Femi Koleoso runs these nights called Situation and really goes through genres, from a whole set of dancehall into samba. It just works, and it brings a lot of joy to the dance floor.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
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