Nubya Garcia: Tiny Desk Concert

Nikki Birch | April 9, 2025
Nubya Garcia smiles as she lights her bespoke incense. Named for Odyssey, her 2024 album, the scent is meant to give the same multisensory experience that she enjoys while listening to or creating music. As the fragrance fills the NPR Music office, her powerful, yet delicate compositions take us on a tranquil journey.

Garcia's deeply rich tenor saxophone graces swelling strings and hypnotic grooves throughout this Tiny Desk. "Dawn" sets the stage and "Solstice" turns up the tempo, then the band crests the wave into "Clarity" and the album's title track. Garcia's been compared to John Coltrane and Pharoah Sanders, but her eloquent melodies, reggae and dub rhythms, and commanding tone keep the course, propelling the passage forward.

This performance concludes with "Triumphance," which features the first lyrics Garcia ever penned. Delivered with a gentle, but insistent strength, she encourages us: "Your difference is your power / Our differences can be our collective power."

SET LIST
"Dawn"
"Solstice"
"Clarity"
"Odyssey"
"Triumphance"

MUSICIANS
Nubya Garcia: tenor saxophone, vocals
Sam Jones: drums
Max Luthert: upright bass
Lyle Barton: keys
Amyr Joyner: 1st violin
Margret Radovani: 2nd violin
Kyung LeBlanc: viola
Maxfield Wollam-Fisher: cello

TINY DESK TEAM
Producer: Nikki Birch
Director/Editor: Maia Stern
Audio Technical Director: Josh Newell
Host/Series Producer: Bobby Carter
Videographers: Maia Stern, Joshua Bryant, Kara Frame
Audio Engineer: Josephine Nyounai
Production Assistant: Dora Levite
Photographer: Alanté Serene
Tiny Desk Team: Lars Gotrich, Ashley Pointer
Executive Producer: Suraya Mohamed
Series Creators: Bob Boilen, Stephen Thompson
VP, Visuals and Music: Keith Jenkins

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