Gaume Jazz Festival : China Moses

An Intense and Luminous Stage Presence

Moses China, vocals / Kwame Yeboah, keyboards, direction / Drums Lox, drums / Lawrence Insula, bass / Cornelis Jérôme, guitar & sax

Accompanied by musicians from across the Channel and the United States, China, a citizen of the world, offers a beautiful journey to the heart of soul/jazz/blues/funk/rock music… “Black American Music”!

The Project

China Moses possesses an intense and luminous stage presence. Her alto voice conveys a natural density, a resolute character, and a striking color. This child of jazz, a singer-songwriter who also draws on soul music, is defined by her personal depth, punch, and the smile that so often lights up her face. Far from “just singing,” she draws the audience into her world. Her stage performances become an immersive experience in a world where all gender categorization is obsolete and/or the audience is encouraged to be themselves. In 2019, during a change in her personal life, China Moses felt the need to leave Paris for London to immerse herself in her unique musical energy and thus merge with her hybrid, uninhibited, and "electrifying" creativity.

It was in her new London home that China rebuilt herself and began composing the melodies and lyrics for her seventh album. She took the opportunity to further explore her sonic identity, which was already evident in her previous album, Nightintales, released in 2017 (Madeinchina Prod/MPS-Edel), which was itself created in Paris in five days and recorded in London in six with Antony Marshall (Craig David, Nelly Furtado).

Alongside composing, China immersed herself in the work of Dr. Portia K. Maultsby, an ethnomusicologist and specialist in African-American culture and music at Indiana University. This return to her family, her musical DNA, and Her country, inspired China to write a guitar blues, "It's Okay," an ode to self-acceptance. This new album addresses powerful topics dear to her heart, such as loneliness, mass shootings, the loss of loved ones, dying love, social injustice—all the ills that drive an artist in her quest for Love and Kindness.

Her seven-season radio show on TSF Jazz also allows China to study and present to her many listeners the range of her African-American culture through artists such as Alice Coltrane, Roberta Flack, Prince, Marvin Gaye, Meshell Ndegocello, Sade, and many others. To fulfill her high standards, she worked on the album with English singer-songwriter Oli Rockberger (Jordan Rakei, Gregory Porter), who refined the form of certain songs. She also collaborated with English producer Troy Miller (Laura Mvula, Jamie Cullum, Gregory Porter), who encouraged her to return home to the United States to work with her "musical family," including Theo Croker, Lakecia Benjamin, and Daru Jones.

This is a preview performance of her songs, accompanied by musicians from across the Channel and the United States, during this French tour. Combining her soul/jazz/blues/funk/rock music with "Black American Music," her life stories and emotional moments, this show will offer you a wonderful journey into the heart of the cultural kaleidoscope that defines China Moses, American and French, but above all, a citizen of the world.

See her at the Gaume Jazz Festival 2025!