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Jazz Articles about Lionel Loueke
Lionel Loueke & Dave Holland: United
by Ian Patterson
Why did they not think of this before? A fair question. But as the Greek poet Homer put it, even a fool is wise after the event. “Why did you not think of it before?," Homer might have retorted. Yes, the music on United is so sublime, so natural sounding, that guitarist Lionel Loueke and bassist Dave Holland seem like old duo soulmates. The truth, however, is different. While the pair have played together in various settings, they had never ...
Continue ReadingOmri Mor / Yosef-Gutman Levitt: Melodies of Light
by Mike Jurkovic
It is quite rare in a culture and society driven by autocrats, hits, likes, blogs and podcasts, that recordings as ethereal, yet born of the ageless earth, as Melodies of Light come around to release us from the daily ugly. Spontaneous music of this hypnotic, mysterious beauty and elusive grace give us pause to reflect on where we are, individually and collectively, and to seek a better way. It haunts. It comes at the listener from some timeless ...
Continue ReadingGretchen Parlato, Lionel Loueke: Lean In
by Angelo Leonardi
Le collaborazioni discografiche tra la vocalist losangelina e il chitarrista del Benin iniziano nel biennio 2005/2006. Prima è venuto Gretchen Parlato, l'album debutto della cantante, e qualche mese dopo Virgin Forest (Obliqsound), il terzo lavoro di Loueke che comprendeva già Herbie Hancock. Negli anni successivi i due interpreti hanno continuato a collaborare in vari contesti privilegiando le comuni affinità: il jazz contemporaneo, l'amore per le musiche etniche (i ritmi in particolare) di Africa e Brasile, qualche suggestione pop e la ...
Continue ReadingGretchen Parlato and Lionel Loueke: Lean In
by Geno Thackara
With a voice as sweet and cool as a spring breeze, Gretchen Parlato would sound at home in any cozy jazz club from Paris to Sao Paulo. The sound of Lionel Loueke's voice and guitar is at least 60 percent rhythm, with his plucking and crooning having an innate percussive pulse running through it. Two decades of collaboration and close friendship are on display with Parlato and Loueke's first full duo-recording; Lean In shows the breadth of their globe-spanning interests ...
Continue ReadingLionel Loueke: Our Story Is What We Play
by Leo Sidran
When Lionel Loueke was coming of age as a young guitarist in his home country of Benin in West Africa, there were no music stores of any kind. He would have had to travel to Nigeria—the next country over--just to get his hands on some new strings. So he made due with what he had, cleaning and soaking, reusing his strings and even going so far as to tie knots in them when they broke. Lionel's story is ...
Continue ReadingOctober 2021
by Pat Youngspiel
The Source But swinging doesn't bend them down Odin Records 2021 This new release by Norwegian jazz outfit The Source arrives 15 years after the quartet's self-titled ECM debut and makes up for lost time with angular swing, unconventional rubato and offbeat contemplation. The four protagonists--each a pillar of the contemporary Norwegian jazz landscape--have remained quite busy with other projects in the meantime: drummer Per Oddvar Johansen continues to expand his leader-date catalogue on ...
Continue ReadingLionel Loueke: I Dare You
by Ian Patterson
Though 2020 proved to be challenging, to say the least, Lionel Loueke can look back on a year blighted by the COVID-19 pandemic with some personal satisfaction. To produce not one but two great albums was no small feat. First, there was Gilfema 3 (Sounderscore), a brilliant outing with Massimo Biolcati and Ferenc Nemeth--the trio's first recording in twelve years. That was followed by the solo album HH (Edition Records), an innovative tribute to the music of Herbie Hancock. Both ...
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