JCUK presents Coco Mbassi

Coco Mbassi - lead vocals

Julian Woods - guitar

Thierry Jasmin-Banaré - bass guitar

Lele Mancini - drumkit

For the first time The Jazz Centre features a musician of West African heritage. Coco M’bassi was born in Paris and spent her childhood years in her native Cameroon. Singing from a very early age, her influences were wide-ranging, from Handel’s Messiah, to the Jackson Five and Cameroon’s most popular musical style, Makossa.

After her return to Paris as a teenager, her career as a backing vocalist started on stage and recording sessions with stars of world music and French and international pop, including Cameroon’s global star Manu Dibango. She also took part in several contemporary, classical, pop and gospel projects, and she was one of lead singers of Cirque du Soleil’s show Totem. Coco Mbassi is an international artist whose musical style defies categorisation.

Now resident in the UK her music has been described as a tree with roots in Africa and branches extending towards gospel, soul, French chanson, jazz, and even some influences from classical music.

"Here's a Cameroonian woman who can do wonderful things with her voice, from soft and intimate to boppy ma non troppo, with traces of gospel, jazz and classical as well as multifarious West African roots influence. She sings with heartbreakingly clear pitch and clear feeling." Rick Sanders - fRoots