Jean-Christophe Cholet, a jazz musician from France, found a subtle connection between France's Region Centre-Val De Loire and Central China's Hunan province.

"Montargis in Val De Loire and Jishou in Hunan have been doing a music exchange program for several years. This goes back to China's former leader Deng Xiaoping," says Cholet.

Deng Xiaoping spent two years studying and working in France. Cholet says that as a continuation of the two regions' friendship build by Deng Xiaoping, people at Montargis are hosting such exchange programs to further strengthen it.

Cholet's new trio with Gildas Boclé and Quentin Cholet plans on mixing the two cultures when they travel to Hunan province next week to collect local music in Jishou city.

"We will be collecting local music in Jishou from the Miao minority and Tujia minority, like the melody they made from leaves or some local instruments, and we will have an improvisation concert with four local musicians at Jishou University. Next year, they will come to perform in France. It's really exciting."

As a composer, Cholet says his life is all about music. While it's not purely something that gets him excited, it's something he's devoting a large portion of his life into, which eventually led him a long and prosperous career.

"I remember waking up in the morning and the first thing I would do was work on my music. When I had a music project, I would work late into the night. I tried composing new music everyday because the more you do it, the easier it becomes, and you get more ideas."

So far, Cholet has created 350 pieces of compositions and has held many sold-out concerts in Germany, Austria and Italy. He's worked with Lee Konitz, Richie Beirach, Charlie Mariano and many other jazz musicians around the globe. Cholet says such cooperation enabled him to be more sensitive in communicating culture through music.

For the entirety of his China tour, Cholet will be playing the keyboard, Gildas Bocle will play bass, and Quentin Cholet (Cholet's 21-year-old son) will be on the drums. The project, named 'InitiativeS', is a real commitment to the complexity of a modern jazz trio.

If you go:

Sep 14, JZ club. Fuxin West Road, Shanghai. 21:00

Sep 27, Red Live Club. 3F, Red Theatre, 249 Zhongshan Road, Furong district, Changsha. (Time TBD)

Sep 28, Real Live. 60 Shaopowei, Daxue Road, Siming district, Xiamen. 21:15

Sep 30, OCT-LOFT. C2 building, Northern Nanshan Distict, Shenzhen. 20:30

Oct 1, T: Union. 1F 361-365 East Garden building, Guangzhoudadao Road, Yuexiu District, Guangzhou. 20:30

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