Nubya Garcia [Danika Lawrence]

IT is a whole seven years since New Journal first flagged a Camden-born rising sax star called Nubya Garcia, one of a talented cohort (Moses Boyd, Femi Koleoso, Sheila Maurice-Grey etc) who had recently graduated from the Tomorrow’s Warriors programme.

Since then, she has become one of the key players in the so-called nu-jazz revival and something of a figurehead for the increased presence of female players on the scene. (In fact, one of the things she said in the interview was that she was waiting for the day where she was described as a “saxophonist” without any gender specification, a landmark that is certainly getting closer.)

I still recall there was some griping from an older generation about her technical prowess at the time, people who overlooked that she had other attributes than total mastery of the Coltrane changes, inversions and substitutions – a powerful on-stage charisma, an ability to play an audience (inevitably younger and more diverse than most jazz gatherings at that time) as well as her instrument and to get them dancing.

And since then, she has, of course, thanks to a full calendar of g­igging around the world, grown in stature and ability. She silenced any remaining critics last year with her tour-de-force playing of and improvising around the Stan Getz/Eddie Sauter album-with-strings Focus, re-imagined with the Nu Civilisation Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall.

Now she is back with Odyssey (Concord), her sophomore album after 2020’s Source (not counting a Jazz Re:Freshed 5ive EP that was her first recording). And it’s a surprise, albeit a very pleasant one. The grooves that dominated Source have been dialled down and, in their place, strings are peppered throughout, sometimes dominating a whole track, as with the pizzicato-driven Water’s Path, or underpinning the group, as in the lush opening of Dawn (which features superstar bassist Esperanza Spalding on vocals).

It is not like Focus, a full sax-with-orchestra outing, however. Here the strings are often used to give texture and breadth to the tunes or as stand-alone interludes. Her regular powerhouse band is very much in evidence – especially on the title track, before the string-driven coda – with the seductive deep tones of Daniel Casimir on bass, Sam Jones playing like a polyrhythmic octopus and Joe Armon-Jones (he of Ezra Collective) showing once again that he has few equals among his peers when it comes to fleet-fingered flights of spiritual jazz.

Also incorporating nods to R&B, dub and breakbeat – listen to the bustling, hustling The Seer – Odyssey is a mature, considered work that makes a fine companion piece to Garcia’s contemporary Cassie Kinoshi’s third-steam chamber-jazz album gratitude (International Anthem), which came out earlier this year. How will Odyssey translate to a live setting? Find out at the ICA when Garcia and her band debut the tunes on September 19. Details: https://www.ica.art/live/nubya-garcia
Personally, I expect the grooves to return with a vengeance.

Garcia is still in the foothills of her career, whereas Tim Garland has already scaled the heights – you only have to know he played saxophone for Chick Corea for close to two decades to appreciate how good he must be.

Garland is also dabbling with strings on Moment of Departure (Ubuntu Music), his latest with the Lighthouse Trio, which includes pianist Gwilym Simcock (ex-Pat Metheny, another indication of quality) and the estimable Asaf Sirkis, who also holds down the drum chair with the current incarnation of Soft Machine. (The Softs next play London at the 229 Club in Great Portland Street on November 27 – see https://www.softmachine.org/touring/on-tour – with the equally venerable Colosseum).

Garland’s approach is more improvisational and complex than Garcia’s, but also offers substantial rewards. It is an album of two halves, the first demonstrating the rapport between the members of the trio, all at the top of their game, with plenty of light and shade, and the second mostly highlighting Garland’s approach to writing and arranging for the Sinfonia, as the palette edges away from pure jazz into contemporary classical, with violinist Thomas Gould to the fore, although again there is room for improvisation built into the compositions.

All in all, Moment of Departure is an ambitious, exhilarating listen that bursts through musical borders and boundaries with aplomb.

The Lighthouse Trio with the superb, genre-fluid trumpet/flugelhorn of Yazz Ahmed (who guests on the album) play at World Heart Beat Embassy Gardens over in Nine Elms on September 6. It also includes specially produced artworks created by Turkish painter and printmaker Esra Kizir Gokcen, which will form a backdrop for the performance. More info at https://worldheartbeat.org/events/tim-garland-lighthouse-trio-moment-of-departure-3p/

You can hear the trio with the full Britten Sinfonia at the Barbican as part of the EFG London Jazz Festival on November 19 (see https://www.barbican.org.uk/whats-on or https://efglondonjazzfestival.org.uk)

As I write this, I have just finished reading that Trinidad and Tobago might well ditch Christopher Columbus from its of coat arms and replace him with steel pans, the iconic sound of the islands. Which seemed apt, as my house has been filled with the sonorous tones of that instrument for the past few days.

Although still a relative rarity, the pans do have a place in jazz, as two recent albums by key practitioners demonstrate. Mark Cherrie might be known to non-jazzers from his appearance on The Repair Shop, when he took one of his father’s tenor pans to be restored. His new album, Any Anxious Colour (Windmill Jazz), features that pan in a series of original tunes, many of which hark back to his Trinidadian heritage, especially Ole Mas, a fine calypso (a musical style which has a sporadic but interesting history in jazz – see Sonny Rollins, Harry Beckett and even early John Surman).

The album opens with the ear-wormy Bob James-ish title track and features a typically lyrical turn on saxophone from the marvellous Dave O’Higgins, its timbre contrasting nicely with the brighter sonics of the steel pans. In fact, there is plenty of colour and depth here, with particularly notable contributions from pianist John Donaldson and a very nicely wistful vocal turn on Somewhere a Star from Chantelle Duncan. Above all, thanks to drummer Eric Ford and the leader, it swings, as all good jazz should.

Leon Foster Thomas’s Calasanitus (Krossover Jazz), which came out last year but only recently joined my to-play list, is not quite such easy listening, being less about his own Trinidadian and calypso heritage than the experience of the wider African diaspora and its impact on family.

The album is dedicated to his late mother, although it is far from a maudlin affair, Thomas being too astringent in his writing/arranging for excess sentiment. Spikier, more urgent than Cherrie’s album, it also features some excellent sidemen, including incisive contributions from trumpeter John Daversa and saxman Troy Roberts, that take it into more slightly more abrasive territory, with a driven Thomas at times sounding as if he is channelling a pianist like Keith Jarret or Brad Mehldau.

Together these two albums demonstrate the steel pan is far from a one trick pony. Leon Foster Thomas, last heard studying for a PhD in London, was due to play the Vortex recently, but had to cancel. Keep an eye out for the re-scheduled gig at https://www.vortexjazz.co.uk/ or https://www.leonfosterthomas.com

Mark Cherrie, meanwhile, is launching his album at Chelsea’s 606 Club on September 23, where his quartet will play the Any Anxious Colour album in full, although expect much improvisation on the originals. Dave O’Higgins and Chantelle Duncan are guesting too. Details: https://www.606club.co.uk/events/view/mark-cherrie-quartet-album-launch/

The Mildmay Club in Newington Green is a private club, so non-members rarely get to see inside of this former political thinker’s working man’s venue, which dates from 1888 (although the current building is vintage 1900).

However, non-members can access the interior during One Jazz’s excellent On the Corner nights.

The next one, on September 26, features a live set from a trio featuring Tomorrow’s Warriors alumnus Donovan Haffner, a muscular alto player, and the DJs include the venerable jazz proselytizer Jez Nelson, who will be playing through a high end system provide by Crouch End’s Audio Gold (https://audiogold.co.uk), a temple of hi-fi wonders, whose own Robin Brunson will also be spinning the vinyl. Tickets for On the Corner: https://mildmay.club/ or https://www.tickettailor.com/events/mildmayclubandinstituteltd/1191384

Finally, a reminder that Camden’s very own Jazz Café is crossing the river to mount its first ever outdoor festival in Burgess Park, with Nils Frahm, the Buena Vista All Stars, Cherise, Gilles Peterson and plenty more Parkway favourites. It’s on September 15 and details and tickets are here: https://thejazzcafelondon.com/event/jazz-cafe-festival/