Nubya Nyasha Garcia (born 1991) is an English jazz musician, saxophonist, composer and bandleader.

Early life and education

Garcia was born in 1991 in Camden Town, London, the youngest of four siblings, to a Guyanese mother, a former civil servant, and a British Trinidadian filmmaker father.

Garcia followed her three older siblings to the local Camden Saturday Music Centre at the age of five, where she first learned the violin and later played the viola in the London Schools Symphony Orchestra (LSSO). Garcia's upbringing by her stepdad, a brass player, and music loving mother, coupled with the music activities at Camden School for Girls, meant she was exposed to multiple genres of music.

Garcia began learning the saxophone at the age of 10, with Vicky Wright. Garcia became a member of the Camden Jazz Band, directed by jazz pianist Nikki Yeoh, before joining the junior jazz programme at the Royal Academy of Music. She attended the youth music workshops at the Roundhouse in Camden and also with Tomorrow's Warriors under the direction of Gary Crosby. While still in high school, she received a scholarship for a five-week summer programme at the Berklee College of Music in Boston. During her gap year, she studied with former Jazz Messengers member Jean Toussaint. In 2016, Garcia graduated with honours from the Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, in Jazz Performance.