Nubya Garcia
Odyssey
**** out of *****
Nubya Garcia's sophomore release, Odyssey, on Concord Records is a follow up to her excellent solo debut Source and continues the talented tenor saxophonist, bandleader and composer's, evolution. The record finds Garcia spreading her wings, moving away from the more straight ahead grooves of her debut to excellently widen her sonic scope.
Using a core band of Joe Armon-Jones (keys), Daniel Casimir (bass), Sam Jones (drums) along with a few guests and added musicians, Garcia has gained confidence in her composing. The album opens with the three strongest efforts, "Dawn" ft. Esperanza Spalding, "Solstice", and the expansively gorgeous title track.
"Dawn" slowly builds with strong bass from guest Spalding as the duet vocals and instrumentation rise exactly like the song's title. Things swell and move in various exciting directions before an orchestrated finale. The album's title track is a wonder with the best sax work from Garcia on the record, adventurous drumming, bright piano and the totality of the track becomes a weaving modern jazz instant classic. Garcia has fallen in love with orchestration on this album, pushing strings at time to the forefront even at the expense of her sax work, but not here as the strings act as an exhale, closing a wonderful journey.
The experimentation and excitement continues for "Solstice" as Garcia begins with strong bass from Casimir before skittering piano and drums from Armon-Jones and Jones respectively. These wild movements are offset by Garcia's smooth tenor work as the frantic outliers never touch the in control center. The track swells to a pumping ending that is dynamite with a whirlwind of exhilarating playing.
After the opening run the album settles down, with funky hip hop drumming and soul singing on "Set It Free" ft. Richie while the spotlight is shone on Garcia's dynamic sax work leading "The Seer". "We Walk In Gold" ft. Georgia Anne Muldrow is another bright spot with a cool Latin groove and spoken word poetic lyrics beginning the track, before an explosive finale that is huge and over the top in a good way.
The second half of the album does recede and mellow with less exciting results as "Water's Path" finds Garcia's focusing directly on her love of orchestral string work while the ballad "Clarity" is passable, just not very exciting. "In Other Words, Living" recalls some of the dexterity displayed at the beginning of the album, but never hits those heights.
Odyssey does close on an incredibly strong note with "Triumphance" as Garcia brings in modern dub and reggae sounds to her style with a confident and winning touch. Over the past decade Garcia has marked herself as a must hear, with her work on the London jazz scene, Odyssey continues her journey with textured songs, elaborate orchestrations and true heart and soul.
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Odyssey made our list of the best of 2024.
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