NUBYA GARCIA - Pace (single)
Concorde Jazz - available at
https://nubyagarcia.bandcamp.com/track/pace
Nubya Garcia - tenor sax; Joe Armon Jones - piano; Daniel Casimir - bass; Sam Jones - drums
This is the first single from Nubya Garcia’s forthcoming album on the legendary US imprint Concorde Jazz, co-produced by Kwes, who has also worked with such major players as Bobby Womack and Solange as well as Nerija, the Domino-signed outfit in which Garcia also plays. Given how much she has been touted as the face of the new UK jazz movement, and the resulting pressure there must be to deliver commercially, it is heartening to hear how true Garcia is staying to her identity on this 8-minute cut. The track preserves her long-established band line-up, without any extraneous studio additions, and is built around a powerful ostinato from Casimir’s thick-toned bass. There’s a relatively simple harmonic hook, but it’s all about the way that Garcia and her bandmates build the tension up to towering heights under Garcia’s opening statement, bring it down again to introduce Armon-Jones’ piano, then build and build again for Garcia’s return. Her strategy as an improviser follows the path set out on her previous releases: clear, simple but logical melodic statements delivered in a full bodied, nicely rounded tone into which she injects the necessary grit at the required moments. Sam Jones doesn’t hold back on the drums either. Very satisfying.
Reviewed by Eddie Myer
Concorde Jazz - available at
https://nubyagarcia.bandcamp.com/track/pace
Nubya Garcia - tenor sax; Joe Armon Jones - piano; Daniel Casimir - bass; Sam Jones - drums
This is the first single from Nubya Garcia’s forthcoming album on the legendary US imprint Concorde Jazz, co-produced by Kwes, who has also worked with such major players as Bobby Womack and Solange as well as Nerija, the Domino-signed outfit in which Garcia also plays. Given how much she has been touted as the face of the new UK jazz movement, and the resulting pressure there must be to deliver commercially, it is heartening to hear how true Garcia is staying to her identity on this 8-minute cut. The track preserves her long-established band line-up, without any extraneous studio additions, and is built around a powerful ostinato from Casimir’s thick-toned bass. There’s a relatively simple harmonic hook, but it’s all about the way that Garcia and her bandmates build the tension up to towering heights under Garcia’s opening statement, bring it down again to introduce Armon-Jones’ piano, then build and build again for Garcia’s return. Her strategy as an improviser follows the path set out on her previous releases: clear, simple but logical melodic statements delivered in a full bodied, nicely rounded tone into which she injects the necessary grit at the required moments. Sam Jones doesn’t hold back on the drums either. Very satisfying.
Reviewed by Eddie Myer
