★★★★★
It's nearly impossible to overstate the stamp that Robert Glasper--as producer and as keyboardist on six of the 10 tracks--places on Beninese label mate Lionel Loueke's third outing for Blue Note. Glasper's penchant for obscuring the lines between contemporary and traditional finds a welcoming home in the work of the unceasingly exploratory guitarist Loueke...
- jazztimes.com
2012-11-10
★★★★★
Buy it from Buy the CDDownload as MP3Lionel LouekeHeritageBlue Note Catalogue2012 There's more to this world-jazz encounter between African and American sounds than its melliflously ethereal, borderline-smooth vocals first suggest. Beninese guitarist/vocalist Loueke (pictured) has established a unique identity (one that endeared him to Herbie Hancock) from overdubbed creations of evocative African-choral textures spliced with a guitar...
- www.guardian.co.uk
2012-11-08
★★★★★
For the last few years, Lionel Loueke has been quietly carving out a space as one of the most unusual and brilliant of jazz guitarists. He has done this through stunning guest appearances on other people's records, as a member of the Gilfema Trio, and in a series of solo albums. On his latest, Heritage, he again proves that he is worth any music fan's careful attention. But there is a problem: into what kind of box can we fit Lionel Loueke...
- www.popmatters.com
2012-10-15
★★★★★
Lionel Loueke's Heritage deftly intertwines modern jazz constructs with traditional African themes in a highly personal exploration of these two cultural streams which define Loueke's upbringing and musical identity. The result is a gracious, elevating and welcoming sound that still challenges preconceived notions. Thoughtfully composed, the album's ten pieces together present an intimate?sometimes philosophical?complex musical meditation on the concept of heritage...
- www.allaboutjazz.com
2012-09-06
★★★★★
On Heritage, Benin-born Lionel Loueke takes a more electric approach than on previous releases, which mostly featured his acoustic, nylon-string guitar. This change is immediately felt on the opening "Ifê," beginning with the muted notes of an acoustic steel-stringed guitar whose sound resembles a kalimba (thumb piano). Loueke is backed solely by his trio (rounded out by bassist Derrick Hodge and drummer Mark Guiliana) here, and plays a dexterous solo with the help of a pitch bender pedal...
- www.allaboutjazz.com
2012-09-06
★★★★★
Lionel Loueke's two previous Blue Note recordings?Karibu (2008) and Mwaliko (2010)?displayed his usual virtuosity as a guitarist/vocalist who links his West African Beninese musical roots with a modernist jazz outlook that is uniquely his own. On Heritage, he's assembled new musicians and hooks up with innovative pianist Robert Glasper, who coproduced and performs on the album...
- www.allaboutjazz.com
2012-09-04
★★★★★
On his sophomore disc for the famed jazz label Blue Note, guitarist Lionel Loueke is making wide-ranging world music that coaxes jazz out of its house to play. Originally from the African country Benin, Loueke has spent plenty of time playing jazz with brilliant players in the modern tradition such as Terence Blanchard. He has also played, and plenty, with senior architects like Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter...
- www.popmatters.com
2011-01-20
★★★★★
For jazz fundamentalists, a guitarist who sings inspires mistrust, as a certain George Benson will no doubt attest. However, the case of Beninois sensation Lionel Loueke is not entirely comparable. His voice is used as much for textural effects, clicks, exhalations and general tonal distortions, as it is to deliver lyrics, and at times meshes very closely with the distinctively pinched, puckered sound of his nylon string guitar...
- www.bbc.co.uk
2010-08-26
★★★★★
Lionel Loueke: Mwaliko Blue Note 2010 An album of duo and trio recordings, Mwaliko is the kind of world-infused smorgasbord that only guitarist Lionel Loueke could cook up?it contains hard swing, makossa, balladry, Beninese folk and a jazz standard. Hailing from Benin in West Africa, Loueke boasts a curriculum vitae whose scope is similarly impressive...
- www.allaboutjazz.com
2010-03-18
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