This is the second Alfa Jazz Fest for U.S. soul and jazz singer China Moses.
Three years ago she came to the festival that is annually held in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv to support her mother, three-time Grammy Award winning jazz singer and Tony Award winning stage actress Dee Dee Bridgewater, who was one of the festival’s headliners in 2014.
This year, Moses was a headliner at Alfa Jazz Fest, which took place on June 23–27.
“Everyone is judged for something — all my life I was judged for being a daughter of Dee Dee Bridgewater,” Moses said during a June 25 interview after her 90-minute show on the festival’s main stage.
“I look like my mother, I sound like her but I am not my mother,” she said.
Moses is outgoing and open, singing even as she speaks, and creating a bubble of laughter around her. She shares beer with the press and is not afraid to share her emotions, too.
Being pleasant and gentle does not stop her from being a strong daughter of a strong mother, who knows how to manage her band, show and audience.
“It took me 20 years to become who I am now,” she said.
Moses, 39, came to Ukraine alone this year. Leaving the plane, she took a photo of Lviv and sent it to her mother.
“If mother was here, she’d be in the front row, singing along, taking pictures and sending them to her girlfriends. She is a great support and a great example. I’ve learned a lot from her,” Moses said.
Moses hopes to tour with her mother next year or in 2019. “Relationships between a daughter and a mother are stronger than just that (family) connection. It is about women. Women need to stand taller and stronger,” Moses said.
Night stories
This year, Moses released her sixth album “Nightintales.” The collection’s 11 songs recount the imperfections, flaws and vices of human nature. “Hungover” is about the inebriation of love, “Whatever” about the bitter ending of a romance, and “Nicotine” stands for craving something that is wrong and intoxicating.
One of her songs, called “Watch Out,” is humorous, fast and rhythmical.
“But in reality,” Moses shares, “it’s a story about a girl being completely depressed, losing herself, looking in the mirror and thinking: ‘What am I doing?’”
Moses likes to mix different styles, emotions and moods.
“I love beautiful ballads, but I smoke, drink and I like partying. I find it important that my lyrics respect traditions, but I cannot ignore the fact that I am in 2017. I can’t make an album that sounds like it was made in the 50s,” Moses said.
Moses says her music reflects and explains emotions and helps people cope.
“We wake up in the morning and by the end of the day we’ve gone through about 40 different emotions. That’s what my music sounds like — all the different emotions you can go through by night,” she said.
Crazy world
Just like three years ago, Moses said she was not scared to come to Ukraine despite Russia’s war against the easter Donbass and its occupation of Crimea since 2014.
“I know what’s happening in Ukraine is tough, what’s happening in Crimea is f*cked up, and I know I should not say that,” the singer said. “But music is one of that things that bring people joy.”
Moses is proud of being an American, but disagrees with politicians. “The things that are going on in the world are crazy,” she said.
Strong woman
During her show, Moses told jokes, danced, drank champagne and told stories about her songs.
“We musicians, coming to the city, usually don’t see the city — we see the people,” she said.
Ukrainians, she said, are sincere.
Moses found out only a couple of days before her perforance that she is one of the headliners of Alfa Jazz Fest.
“When I found out, I immediately called my mother, and she was very proud. Despite that, the little girl inside me said: ‘You shouldn’t be here.’ But the woman in me disagreed: ‘Maybe you should be here — you do have the right to be on this stage.’”
Moses’ band is a huge part of her success. The singer doesn’t play any musical instruments, so it is important that her band is quick on the uptake.
“It is hard, especially for a woman, to find a band that will trust her. I found one, and I appreciate it very much,” she said, referring to Luigi Grasso (saxophone, keyboards), Joe Armon Jones (piano), Neil Charles (bass) and Marijus Aleksa (drums).
