Nubya Garcia

Born in Camden Town, London, Nubya Garcia has established herself on the 2010s British jazz scene as a tenor saxophonist, composer, and bandleader, in a landscape where contemporary jazz intersects Afro-Caribbean influences, broken beat, dub, and soul. Trained notably at Camden Saturday Music Centre, in the Tomorrow’s Warriors program, and later at Trinity Laban Conservatoire, Nubya Garcia develops a full, melodic style, driven by compositions that give substantial space to circular grooves, modal textures, and collective improvisation. After the 2017 EP Nubya’s 5ive, she refined this approach on When We Are in 2018, and then on the 2020 album Source, where her writing blends spiritual jazz, African rhythms, and strongly anchored bass lines. Parallel to her work as a leader, Nubya Garcia has participated in several landmark London scene ensembles, notably Nerija, a female-dominated collective, Maisha, Afro-jazz oriented, as well as London Brew. She has also performed on stages such as New York’s Winter Jazzfest, Jazzfest Berlin, Love Supreme, or the BBC Proms. With Odyssey, released in 2024, Nubya Garcia continues a trajectory centered on open jazz, at times orchestral, but always tied to rhythmic momentum and instrumental storytelling.