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Nubya Garcia: Source

By Ian Patterson
September 17, 2020
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London-born and raised she may be, but saxophonist-composer Nubya Garcia's music is pan-global in outlook, reflecting her Guyanese/Trinidadian heritage on one hand, and an openness to music in general, on the other. It should come as no surprise that her full-length debut is laced with Afro-Caribbean and South American rhythms, for Source is a personal proclamation—a musical passport of sorts. Equally, a streak of urban chic—marked by broken beats and dub atmospherics—colors these ten tracks. Yet for all its musical hybridity, Source is a jazz record at heart, stemming from the tradition, yet joyously pushing the boundaries.

As on Garcia's previous EPs, Nubya's 5Ive (Jazz re:freshed, 2017) and When We Are (Nyasha Records, 2018), the twenty-eight-year old saxophonist is joined by keyboardist

Joe Armon-Jones

piano

" data-original-title="" title="">Joe Armon-Jones and

Daniel Casimir

bass

" data-original-title="" title="">Daniel Casimir on double bass, while relative newcomer

Sam Jones

bass, acoustic
1924 - 1981

" data-original-title="" title="">Sam Jones injects polyrhythmic muscle on drums. At the center is Garcia's mellifluous, keening sound, which is announced to striking effect on the opening track "Pace," her economy in no way diluting the emotional heft of her playing. Armon-Jones also lays down an early marker with a dashing piano solo. Likewise, Garcia's ability to fashion weighty lyricism from sparse vocabulary is evident on the rhythmically vibrant "The Message Continues," with the no less impressive Armon-Jones buoyant on electric keys.

The title track, from Garcia's second EP, is significantly reworked here with a swaying dub-step groove which underpins Garcia's searching tenor lines. Guest trumpeter

Sheila Maurice-Grey

trumpet

" data-original-title="" title="">Sheila Maurice-Grey adds brief harmonic depth and, in conjunction with

Cassie Kinoshi

saxophone
b.1993

" data-original-title="" title="">Cassie Kinoshi} and

Richie Seivwright

trombone

" data-original-title="" title="">Richie Seivwright, dreamy backing vocals. The ethereal choral effect is reproduced on "Stand With Each Other," where Garcia plies an unwavering, chant-like course. The ballad-tempo of "Together Is a Beautiful Thing" reveals a more introspective side to Garcia, her gentle rubato being in contrast to Armon-Jones and Casimir's more expressive solo forays.

Garcia is perhaps most persuasive riding the faster tempi of "Inner Game," and "Before Us: Demerara & Caura," feeding hungrily off Jones' slippery rhythms and Armon-Jones' ever-probing keys. On the latter, in particular, Garcia really stretches out, producing some real fire which provokes a spirited response from Maurice-Grey on trumpet. "La Cumbia Me Est�� Llamando," inspired by various trips Garcia made to Columbia, sees the tenor saxophonist engage in a mantra-like call-and-response with the Colombian vocal-percussion group La Perla. "Boundless Beings," which features vocalist Akenya, is a dreamy escapade, as hypnotic as it is unclassifiable.

Rootsy and cosmopolitan, Source draws from the deep well of Garcia's historical and cultural mapping. In her stirring rhythms and seductive melodies, laced with surges of improvisational flare, Garcia weds past and present in an elegant idiom of personal stamp. An auspicious debut, rooted yet enticingly progressive.

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Track Listing

Pace; The Message Continues; Source; Together Is A Beautiful Place To Be; Stand With Each Other; Inner Game; La Cumbia Me Est�� Llamando; Before Us In Demerara & Caura; Boundless Beings.

Personnel

Nubya Garcia

saxophone

Joe Armon Jones

keyboards

Daniel Casimir

bass

Additional Instrumentation

Sam Jones: drums.

Album information

Title: Source | Year Released: 2020 | Record Label: Concord Music Group

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