Nubya Garcia smiles as she lights her bespoke incense. Named for Odyssey, her 2024 album, the scent is supposed to provide the identical multisensory expertise that she enjoys whereas listening to or creating music. Because the perfume fills the NPR Music workplace, her highly effective but delicate compositions take us on a tranquil journey.
Garcia’s deeply wealthy tenor saxophone graces swelling strings and hypnotic grooves all through this Tiny Desk. “Daybreak” units the stage and “Solstice” turns up the tempo, then the band crests the wave into “Readability” and the album’s title monitor. Garcia’s been in comparison with John Coltrane and Pharoah Sanders, however her eloquent melodies, reggae and dub rhythms, and commanding tone hold the course, propelling the passage ahead.
This efficiency concludes with “Triumphance,” which options the primary lyrics Garcia ever penned. Delivered with a mild however insistent power, she encourages us: “Your distinction is your energy / Our variations may be our collective energy.”
SET LIST
- “Daybreak”
- “Solstice”
- “Readability”
- “Odyssey”
- “Triumphance”
MUSICIANS
- Nubya Garcia: tenor saxophone, vocals
- Sam Jones: drums
- Max Luthert: upright bass
- Lyle Barton: keys
- Amyr Joyner: 1st violin
- Margret Randovani: 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/Collection Producer: Bobby Carter
- Videographers: Maia Stern, Joshua Bryant, Kara Body
- Audio Engineer: Josephine Nyounai
- Manufacturing Assistant: Dora Levite
- Photographer: Alanté Serene
- Tiny Desk Group: Lars Gotrich, Ashley Pointer
- Government Producer: Suraya Mohamed
- Collection Creators: Bob Boilen, Stephen Thompson
- VP, Visuals and Music: Keith Jenkins
