Lionel Loueke - Virgin Forest
ARTIST.....: Lionel Loueke
TITLE......: Virgin Forest
LABEL......: ObliqSound
URL........: http://www.lionelloueke.com/
RIP DATE...: Sep-22-2006
STORE DATE.: 000-00-2006
GENRE......: Jazz
QUALITY....: VBR / 44.1Hz / Joint-Stereo
SIZE.......: 81,4 MB
Track Listing:
01 - Intro to Rossignol 00:52
02 - Rossignol (Nightingale) 05:23
03 - Intro to Vivi 00:45
04 - Vivi (Happiness) 05:12
05 - Kponnon kpete (Plastic Bag) 02:41
06 - Outro to Kponnon kpete 03:11
07 - Intro to Abominwe 00:52
08 - Aborminwe (Shoulder Dance) 04:05
09 - Le Reveil des Agneaux 04:33
(The Awakening of the Lambs)
10 - Danse Des Animaux (Animals Dance) 01:57
11 - Intro to Madjigua 01:40
12 - Madijigua (To Wish for Money) 06:33
13 - Dispute des Loups (Wolfs' Quarrel) 01:05
14 - Benny's Tune 04:52
15 - Moesha I 05:13
16 - La poursuite du Lion (The Lion's Pursuit) 03:09
17 - Intro to Virgin Forest 01:13
18 - Virgin Forest 06:23
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59:39 min
Release Notes:
"Lionel certainly is a unique player and when you hear him it's
hard to believe that all of that is coming out of his guitar and
from his imagination and what a sweetheart of a human being he is.
I'm sure that his humanity is at the root of it all." -Herbie
Hancock "Lionel is one of the most unique voices in music and
possesses great promise for inventing new directions in Jazz." -
Terence Blanchard African guitarist and percussionist Lionel
Loueke was born in Benin in 1973 and the music he writes and
performs is infused with his native culture. The technical mastery
of his instrument, coupled with his soulful and organic yet cosmic
melodies and ideas, have placed him at the forefront of guitarists
around the world. He has mastered every inch of his instrument,
coaxing sounds from the strings and body that have thrilled
national and international audiences. Lionel Loueke's presence on
the jazz and world music scenes has gone from a whisper to a
scream. Loueke's dedication to the guitar took him to the Ivory
Coast in 1990 for four years of musical training at the National
Institute of Art. he enrolled in the American School of Modern
Music in Paris, where he received his Diploma in 1998. A year
later, he was given a scholarship to the Berklee College of Music
in Boston, where he earned a degree in jazz performance and
received the Dave Holland Award in recognition of outstanding
musicianship. Loueke also received a Special Citation for
outstanding musicianship from the International Association for
Jazz Education. Loueke was selected to audition for the Thelonious
Monk Institute of Jazz Performance, the prestigious two-year
graduate level program at the University of Southern California.
He was invited to join the Class of 2003 following a worldwide
search by a panel of judges including jazz legends Herbie Hancock,
Terence Blanchard and Wayne Shorter. Loueke received a full
scholarship, studying and performing with jazz greats including
Kenny Barron, Dave Holland, John Scofield, Wayne Shorter, Steve
Turre, and Terence Blanchard, the program's Artistic Director.
During his time in the Monk program, Loueke was named the first
place winner of the 2002 Fish Middleton Jazz Scholarship at the
East Coast Jazz Festival. Also during this time, Loueke became
part of Terence Blanchard's band. The past year has been a
whirlwind of high-profile collaborations for Loueke. In addition
to recording and touring with Terence Blanchard, Loueke is part of
the new lineup of Herbie Hancock's Headhunters '05, which also
includes John Mayer, Roy Hargrove, and Marcus Miller. In August
2005, Loueke performed in Japan as part of the concerts put
together by Carlos Santana to commemorate the 60th anniversary of
the atomic bombings there. Herbie Hancock remarked, "When Lionel
played, he blew everyone's minds - the audience and Carlos' band.
Their jaws were hanging. Lionel can play anything: totally out,
blues, tear-jerking stuff, rock and African." August also saw the
release of Herbie Hancock's Possibilities CD. Hancock recruited
Loueke to write a new African-tinged arrangement of Sting's
"Sister Moon." Gilfema, the trio Loueke co-leads with drummer
Ferenc Nemeth and bassist Massimo Biolcati, released its debut
self-titled CD in September 2005. The disc offers a quiet, dreamy
soundscape and fast, angular playing, all infused with West
African musical colors. The new solo guitar album In a Trance
showcases Loueke on guitar, saz (a Turkish string instrument),
vocals, and percussion played on the guitar. The album was
completed in one studio session, with each track recorded on the
first take, and several using a loop machine. Remarkably, six of
the twelve selections, including the title track, were composed
spontaneously in the studio. Lionel plays Yamaha and Godin
guitars.