New Faces of Jazz — Nubya Garcia, Saxophonist

Nubya Nyasha Garcia is an English jazz musician, saxophonist, composer, and bandleader.

The first thing you hear is a bright, asymmetrical, unison melody that’s repeated enough times to stay in your head. Then, suddenly, it’s tempered by a slinky hip-hop groove that grounds an equally decisive, opposing melodic line. “Lost Kingdoms,” the opening song on saxophonist and bandleader Nubya Garcia’s 2017 debut EP Nubya’s 5ive, is the rare jazz composition without words that you can still sing along to. Written, played, and recorded with superlative clarity and ease, “Kingdoms” has the punch of a pop single without any creative compromise. Its heft is obvious any time Garcia plays it live, as she did last year at New York’s (Le) Poisson Rouge while opening for Pharoah Sanders and Gary Bartz. Unlike the vast majority of contemporary jazz musicians, she could close her set with a recognizable hit that actually got the standing-room-only crowd moving. Source: JazzTimes

The music on KUVO never stops, thankfully. The nature of these creative compositions and compelling collaborations is growth and re-invention, re-interpretation, and the quest for things altogether new and never heard before.

Jazz Appreciation Month comes along at just the right time. Spring is the time for new life, to replace the giant trees felled by age and virus. Not to put too much pressure on the young artists headed our way, but we’re counting on them to get us out of the grief and negative funk we’re in. Too much death. Too much sorrow. Lost memories and dear friends departed. Jazz folks are ready for what’s next in music, NOW MORE THAN EVER!

In April 2022, KUVO marks Jazz Appreciation Month by highlighting a few of the “New Faces of Jazz,” however you wish to describe this music. Every few days we’ll dig into the shallow catalogs of the up-and-comers who are coming on strong with musical ideas birthed from the soil loosely called “Jazz.”

We hope you will reach out to KUVO with YOUR favorite new artists because honestly, try as we might, we haven’t heard them all. Hit us up on any of our social media channels or text:

• Instagram: jazz89kuvo
• Twitter: @KUVOJazz
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jazz89kuvo
• Email: studio@kuvo.org
• Text: 303.291.0666

In the meantime, KUVO Jazz hosts (and the hosts of other formats on KUVO) will sound a little younger, and a little more adventurous during April. Because we’re depending on the next wave. Join us won’t you?

For more ways to celebrate Jazz Appreciation Month and for more resources, visit the Smithsonian Institution’s official JAM website at American History Smithsonian/Jazz Appreciation Month.

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