Relaunching our podcast series 'Kicking Down the Door' in partnership Céline Peterson and Black Lives in Music with host Mary Sho, platforming inspirational black women in the Music industry. And kicking down the door to start us off, we are thrilled to welcome our first guest the inspirational singer/songwriter/producer and legend China Moses

You can listen here on Spotify Apple and all major podcast platforms

Singer, songwriter and producer China Moses evolves her artistry in truth. Defiantly real, her music resists what so many labels and critics desire: category. She captivates listeners with her deep pocket, sensitivity and wit, drawing inspiration from endless styles in the expansive lineage of Black American music.

Frank and fearless, China’s songs document fleeting emotional states and extended narratives, often leaning into self-reflection both in lyric and phrasing. Her voice is a satin ribbon wrapped around a crackling flame. Listeners fortunate to observe her in live performance know the depth of her song interpretation. In a moment she can revolve a world.

Click here for China Moses website

For more than a decade, the magnetic on-camera personality and consummate actor has appeared regularly on TV series, including national spots alongside Iggy Pop, Meryl Streep, Will Smith, Ciara, Nile Rodgers, Mariah Carey and Hugh Jackman. Provocative as her musical experiences, China’s broadcasting resumé currently features host-producer positions at celebrated radio shows “Made in China” on TSF Jazz (France) and “Late Night with China Moses” On Jazz FM (UK). She’s one of few women of color to host multiple radio shows across European and UK airwaves.

The self-dubbed high school dropout has been an artist her entire life. Daughter of legendary activist and director Gilbert Moses III and internationally acclaimed musician Dee Dee Bridgewater, China understands the music and its surrounding culture from the inside out.

Along her varied musical paths, she has performed with Archie Shepp, Pee Wee Ellis, Theo Croker, John Beasley, Nils Landgren, John Patitucci, Magnus Lindgren, Jamie Cullum, Terence Blanchard, Terri Lyne Carrington, Aloe Blacc, Lakecia Benjamin and Ian Shaw, sharing stages with legends Roy Hargrove, George Benson, Metropole Orkest Big Band, myriad philharmonics including Bogota, Trier, Dresden, Potsdam, Bilbao, Paris and Szczecin, WDR Big Band, HR Big Band, Metropole Orkest Big Band and the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra. She has recorded with Karriem Riggins, Lakecia Benjamin, DJ Mehdi, Meshell Ndegeocello, Fatoumata Diawara, Chilly Gonzales, GURU, Cerrone, DJ Cam, Daru Jones, Étienne De Crécy and Klaus Doldinger. As a songwriter who composes music and lyrics for the majority of her material, China has collaborated with Anthony Marshall, Oli Rockberger, Troy Miller, Alex Webb, Raphael Lemonnier, Gordon Cyrus & Bob Power.

A global artist and citizen, China has performed in more than 800 shows across six continents in the past 12 years. She has appeared at Ronnie Scott’s, Jazz Café, Barbican Centre and Royal Albert Hall in London, Olympia, UNESCO International Jazz Day and La Cigale in Paris, Vienna Konzerthaus, Berlin Opernhaus, Elbphilharmonie and Dresdner Philharmonie in Germany and Birdland and Nublu in New York City. One of her hidden skills is that of a powerhouse researcher — as a performing and recording artist, a broadcast professional and an international educator. China’s commitment to authentic representation and inclusive perspectives has garnered critical acclaim and peer acknowledgement. She’s a member of the 2013 Young Leader graduating class of the French American Foundation, holds the title Chevalier of St Emilion & Bergerac and has lent her expertise as a panellist at the 2020 Montreux Jazz Academy.

 Mary Sho, a singer and songwriter hailing from South London with a worldwide sound which transcends time and space, offering a home to lovers of authentic, live sounds. Sho’s sound drops you into the late 70’s and early 80’s with tinges of contemporary soul infused with funk origins, creating sounds similar to if Lizzo met Solange met Childish Gambino met Sly and The Family Stone with Thundercat on additional bass!

Armed with live instrumentation and striking, self-directed and self styled visuals, Sho’s spacey vocals float over bass-heavy, funk-soul sounds. while highlighting the experiences of Black women and owning the power of her identity, mind, body and soul. Mary Sho has been featured on BBC London Radio multiple times and has recently performed at Brixton House (Soho Friends) ans Cafe KOKO. This year she was one of the recipients of Women in Jazz Media 2023 and has just released her debut Album titled ‘WOMAN RISING’ in the world

Mary Sho links here