Review: Nubya Garcia at Fremantle Arts Centre

Nubya Garcia at Fremantle Arts Centre
w/ Drea
Saturday, October 26, 2024

Brutal jet lag from a whirlwind Australian tour, and a late night flight out to Tokyo, wasn’t going to stop jazz saxophonist Nubya Garcia from delivering a killer set at Fremantle Arts Centre on Saturday evening.

Fremantle was the last stop of a three-gig sprint that included Sydney and Melbourne in support of her sophomore album Odyssey. Despite the hectic performing and travelling schedule, Garcia, who is an incredibly accomplished jazz performer and composer, didn’t miss a beat. On what was an unusually cold late-October night, the audience kept themselves warm with plenty of heads bobbing, toes tapping and bodies shimmying under the London Plane trees in the Arts Centre’s front gardens.

Perth artist Drea warmed up the crowd with her playful blend of R&B. It’s been a stellar 2024 for Drea who finished in the top eight of Australian Idol and it’s wonderful to see an artist continue to develop the confidence and ease to share the stage with a jazz titan like Garcia. Drea’s live band sounded equally comfortable in their performance and it showed, with an opening set that stood out on its own merit while complementing the sound of the headliner.

Sometimes jazz music can feel like a mess of noise all elbowing to the front of the stage (or your speakers) for recognition. As a result, it can feel like you’re listening to an argument and can be a bit of a headache. But Nubya Garcia was great at facilitating the space for Lyle Barton on the keys and electric organ to noodle, Max Luthert on the double bass to pluck and stretch, and Sam Jones on percussion to flutter and fly. Solos were enjoyable opportunities for the band to shine and for Garcia to take a well deserved breath.

It’s wonderful to hear how Garcia weaves genres like R&B, dub, and even garage into her compositions, while also employing the rhythms and grooves of her Guyanese-Trinidadian heritage. Garcia’s saxophone work is a beautiful splash of colour across every composition. Her siren gets wild, then playful, then anthemic and empowering, then mournful, then romantic and then hopeful. At one point the sounds felt floral.

If you’ve ever wondered what an odyssey can sound like, listening to Nubya Garcia is a pretty good place to start.

KAVI GUPPTA

Photos by Linda Dunjey