submitted on Mon, 05/05/2008 - 06:05 in Jazz Group by Mike_Longo 
Guitarist/singer Lionel Loueke's remarkable odyssey from the West African nation of Benin to the apex of the jazz world is quickly becoming the stuff of legend. After hearing a George Benson CD as a teenager, Loueke became enamored with American jazz and began traversing the globe to further his musical education, first in the neighboring Ivory Coast, then in Paris and Boston, studying at Berklee, and finally in Los Angeles, where his audition at the Thelonious Monk Institute had the likes of Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter and Terence Blanchard standing and cheering. He's since toured and recorded with both Blanchard and Hancock (he's featured on Hancock's Grammy-winning River: The Joni Letters (Verve, 2007), released two solo albums and has made a knockout of a major label debut on Blue Note...
Source: allaboutjazz
Author: Joel Roberts
