Nubya Garcia’s moment seems to have come at last. And it’s weird to say “at last” about someone who’s only in her early thirties, but I’ve been listening to her music for the better part of a decade.

Next month, the celebrated London jazz saxophonist and bandleader Nubya Garcia will release her eagerly anticipated new album Odyssey; we’ve already posted first single “The Seer.” Odyssey has features from Esperanza Spalding and Georgia Anne Muldrow, two Black women working in the same space as her. Today, she’s shared another single, and this one is a collaboration with Richie Seivwright.

The London jazz saxophonist and bandleader Nubya Garcia made a big splash with her 2020 debut album Source, and she released the one-off single “Fortify” a few months ago. Now, Garcia announces her new album Odyssey, set to arrive later this summer, and she’s shared its lead single.

In 2022, we interviewed Nubya Garcia about her career in jazz. Today, the saxophonist and composer is sharing the new song “Fortify,” which has her quartet of Daniel Casimir on double bass, Deschanel Gordon on organ, piano, Rhodes, and Nord, and Sam Jones on drums.

A new album inspired by Miles Davis’ 1970 classic Bitches Brew is set for release in March via Concord Jazz. London Brew is packed with UK jazz players, including Benji B, Theon Cross, Nubya Garcia, Shabaka Hutchings, Dave Okumu, Tom Skinner, and more. Brought together by producer and guitarist Martin Terefe and executive producer Bruce Lampcov, the group recorded London Brew in December 2020 at Paul Epworth’s Church Studios in London. Today, they’re sharing the album’s first single, “Miles Chases New Voodoo In The Church.”

Saxophonist Nubya Garcia’s been patient and methodical about building her career. Some of that has been by choice, and some hasn’t, but it’s all worked out in her favor. It’s starting to feel like 2022 could be a really good year for her.

Once a year, the British Phonographic Industry And British Association Of Record Dealers picks one outstanding album from the UK or Ireland and awards it the Mercury Prize. There’s been a great deal of ceremony around the Mercury Prize ever since its 1992 inception, and while the prize has certainly gone in some unexpected directions over the years, the people in charge have recognized a handful of serious classics. (Last year, Michael Kiwanuka won for KIWANUKA, beating out stars like Dua Lipa, Stormzy, and Charli XCX.) The Mercury Prize overlords have just unveiled the 10 nominees for this year’s prize — a pool that’s grown since Rina Sawayama led an effort to expand eligibility last year. As ever, this year’s nominees are a diverse bunch, and it’s tough to imagine who might win.

Free jazz is often seen as an old man’s music; even players considered part of the new generation seem to be going gray. Pianist Matthew Shipp, for example, will turn 60 in December, and drummer Hamid Drake recently celebrated his 65th birthday. But there are some young musicians taking up the mantle of the music and carrying it forward. One of them is Polish multi-instrumentalist (he plays alto sax, flute, and various clarinets) Mat Walerian, currently living in Brooklyn. He’s connected with Shipp, Drake, and William Parker, and made four albums since 2012 for the ESP-Disk’ label (and appeared on one of the pianist’s releases, Sonic Fiction).

On Friday, October 6, the Art Ensemble Of Chicago played their first New York show since 2004. The last time they were in town, original bassist Malachi Favors had died only three months earlier, so the show was something of a memorial to him. Jaribu Shahid, who had worked with Art Ensemble founder Roscoe Mitchell going back to 1981, filled the bass chair. Trumpeter Lester Bowie, another founding member of the group, had died in 1999; Corey Wilkes, substantially younger than the other members of the band, replaced him. The two shows they played at the New York club Iridium were recorded for a 2006 double CD, Non-Cognitive Aspects Of The City. That was the last Art Ensemble album to be released.