Name: Nubya Garcia
Occupation: Composer, saxophonist, band leader
Nationality: British
Recent event: After the release of her challenging and ambitious project Odyssey, Nubya Garcia embarked on an expansive worldwide-tour. In this interview, we dive into the tour so far and what these performances have taught her about the power of music.

You can still catch her live at one of the following locations:



If you enjoyed this Nubya Garcia interview and would like to know more about her music and current live dates, visit her official homepage. She is also on Instagram, Facebook, and twitter.

Nubya Garcia's new album Odyssey is out via Concord. The record features a band comprising of Joe Armon-Jones (keys), Daniel Casimir (bass), and Sam Jones (drums) as well as guests Esperanza Spalding and Georgia Anne Muldrow.

For a deeper dive, read our Nubya Garcia interview about the making of that album.



When you finish an ambitious album like Odyssey, what is the actual highlight for you – the day the album is released or the moment the tour starts and you get to play the pieces for audiences?

Oh that’s a good question! It takes a while to process the actual release, even once it’s out to be honest.

But what’s really beautiful is that when you get to tour it, the record takes on a whole new life again, and you experience it through the crowd and their responses, their dancing, their energy. There are many highlights!
 
The music on Odyssey was not just beautiful, but extremely ambitious and pushing borders ...

Ah thank you!

How are you reworking and presenting the new material compared to the studio versions?

That’s the beauty of recording with such wonderful musicians. When it comes to the live show it morphs and evolves into a whole new experience ... we really get to explore the special iterations and new arrangements.
 
If I understood correctly, you've already been on tour for a while now.

Yes, we began the tour in Australia and Asia at the end of last year and it was so great! I just started the EU tour in Porto, Portugal this week.

What has the response to the material been so far?

It was amazing energy and such a generous and warm, open crowd ... a beautiful start to this part of the tour!
 
What does everyday life on the road look like for you at the moment?

Every day road life looks like:

lots of travel
Lots of coffee
Lots of good food
Reading
Getting lost in listening to a lot of music on my travels
Going on a walk around the city I’m in (bringing my camera and taking photos !)
Soundchecks
The gig! (and) Signings and meeting so many people after the show
Just hanging with my wonderful band

How much time is there still to discover new music on location or work on new material?

I can listen to new music while traveling, but I’m not focusing on new material because Odyssey is still new material to me.

As I mentioned in my earlier answer, the record takes on a whole new life again on the road.

What is the pleasure of playing live, especially if you're playing as often as you're doing right now?  

There are so many different good things to experience, the pleasure in feeling each different room’s energy, and pushing the music into new places and sonic spaces.

Also being really present and getting lost in sound.


Nubya Garcia Live Photo by Mariana Pires

I saw that you played the Blue Note Tokyo three days in a row! What was that like?

It was trulyyyy amazing.  Performing 2 different sets each night, so 6 completely different shows in total! I will never ever get over the fact that I have played in such a legendary venue halfway across the world, where many legends who I grew up listening to have played. There were beautiful audiences at each set, they were so supportive and open.

I can’t wait to go back to experience their culture again too. Japan is an amazing place.

Tell me a bit about how the experience of playing to different crowds in different countries – the sheer diversity of impressions - impacts your music and your life.

It’s so interesting - the way we respond to music is so culturally different. Some people are exclaiming loudly or moving their bodies. Some are completely still as that’s how they feel comfortable. All are beautiful and special.

Each room, each country is completely different, when you really get into the centre of the energy from the rooms and you’re all in this cacophony together.

It’s a beautiful synergy back and forth exchanging and receiving ... You really do share energy, us to audience, audience to us.  We influence each other.  

What do you make of the idea that music and sound are a universal language - and how can artists use its specific and universal qualities to bring about change on a global scale?

Very true, it’s a universal language.

Hard to answer on global change without careful thought and time ... but what comes to mind in this moment is bringing people together ...  Bringing ideas and concepts to the forefront / telling stories / sharing experiences …

Tell me about some of the feedback you've received from listeners about how your work has impacted them.

At the exhibition - at KEF - for the release of Odyssey - I had a wall where I asked people to write their thoughts and feelings on cards in response to the music, and it was truly an amazing thing to witness and read after! Cards and cards and cards of thoughts and feelings, their genuine emotional reactions. So incredible! There was lots of love and admiration for the music on those cards.

I was honored and grateful for such positive feedback and that the music evoked the same joy that it gave me when I was writing it.

Right now, in many respects, the world seems to be moving against inclusivity, freedom and towards separation and control. What can music do in this situation?

Music can bring people together. It can make us realise that we are not so different from each other.

Humans need each other and we all neeeed to lead with love. When we lead with love and unity, it also gives us the strength to stand together against anyone who’s trying to destroy inclusivity and freedoms. 


Nubya Garcia Interview Image by Danika Lawrence

French Saxophonist Sakina Abdou told me that she "witnessed a powerlessness towards a world that is in absolutely no way in line with my values," and that she hasn't "yet found a way to overcome this in ways other than music, but I admire the activists around me who do it." Can you relate to this and what does it say about the role of music in overcoming our sense of powerlessness and actually empowering us?

I can relate to it. Music to me is a way to tell each other’s stories, it shows that we all share many similar feelings, and have all experienced the same emotions like feeling powerless and powerful, sad and happy, weak and strong.

Artists can only hope that their music helps to lift the listener, and that it inspires them to each take one step in making a positive change in their lives, even if that’s a small step like being kind to someone in need, or a bigger step like speaking up for someone who can’t speak for themselves.

It goes back to leading with love, it can be a very powerful tool in making big changes. Music can make big changes. It can  also be for enjoyment or reflection.  

What kind of performances do you feel the world needs right now - does it need “healing,” “shaking up,” “an escape from reality,” “consolation,” “a sense of community,” “holding up a mirror,” something else?

It needs all of those things.

It needs joy, hope, it needs laughter. We need empathy. We need time. Time to breathe. Time to experience the music together. We need community, and we desperately need to support each other.
 
In human history, music is a universal across cultures and eras of development. Still, musicians are possibly being exploited more than ever. How do you feel they can see beyond their personal limitations, and form bonds and communities capable of tangibly furthering their cause? How can we get people to listen?

Community is key. Knowledge is power. We need to keep talking to each other, keep playing. We are stronger together.  

All that I have learnt I have learnt from my community. There’s a saying of ‘each one teach one’. If not for our community helping each other,  so many things would be unanswered or lost.  

In music, we have a community mindset, too - we exchange ideas, we share inspirations, we learn from those who came before us. It’s community.

Are there approaches, artists, festivals, Labels, spaces or anyone/-thing else out there who you feel deserve a shout out for taking jazz into the future?

Many people!

Grassroots and independent organisations and communities and spaces and venues. All the management / managers who are ACTUALLY supporting their artists and working against those that try to exploit them and their art - I’m lucky to have mgmt like that. Educational organisations who are working tirelessly to bring change and diversity into the music industry like Tomorrow’s Warriors!  

There are so many I want to name! There are many horror stories about the music industry - most of it true. But we rarely speak about the ones who are doing good and advocating for artists - we need to do more of this, because they’re the ones who aren’t seen and don’t get the applause, but who protect artists so that they can do what they love to do!