Gretchen Parlato and Lionel Loueke
(Kings Place Hall One. 11 July 2024. Review by Tom Step)
International jazz icons Gretchen Parlato and Lionel Loueke played their first show in London since the release of their duo album ‘Lean In’ in May 2023. The album went on to receive a Grammy nomination (Parlato’s third and Loueke’s first).
The set consisted mostly of music from ‘Lean In’. Without Burniss Travis (bass) and Mark Guiliana (drums), who feature on several tracks on the record, a guitar and vocal duo might have been expected to have a more ‘stripped back’ sound. This wasn’t the case. The way they worked together and filled the space, the worlds of musical influences they seemed able to call upon, and their evident empathy as musical soulmates left this listener with a feeling of completeness.
A miraculous product of the COVID pandemic, Lean In had celebrated togetherness in a time of increasing isolation. The title suggests an intimacy, like that of someone telling a secret or being comforted. There are venues with a more intimate feel than Kings Place Hall One, and yet the openness and the authenticity of both performers broke down any barriers. “Hands up who hasn’t seen Lionel play before,” Parlato jokes, then playfully adds “you’re about to hear something”. Loueke launches into a foot stomping improvisation that precedes ‘If I Knew’ and it is clear what Parlato means.
Loueke truly is a transcendent musician, seemingly capable of any and every texture simultaneously. Herbie Hancock (who mentored and collaborated with Loueke) described him as having the creativity of “nine different people in one body” and while this is true, the most impressive thing is this one man’s ability to let out all this creativity at once. The seven-stringed guitar ruled the lower register, leaving no-one missing the bass heard on the record. Loueke used pedals in a subtle way that left you looking around to see where the extra sound was coming from. At one point, I thought I could hear a synthesised marimba that turned out to be a kind of octave delay. At another point, I suddenly noticed his hands had stopped moving as he so fluently looped his playing. Of course he utilised a plethora of extended techniques on both guitar and voice, from string-scratching slides and false harmonics to breath sounds and percussive vocal clicks.
Soaring above this in a silky realm of her own is Parlato. Her iconic timbre is the glue that binds all the elements in one cohesive narrative. Loueke says “she’s the only one …that gives me that space” – and you can believe it. Maybe because of her delicate use of consonants or simply her calm, precise execution of each phrase, but more likely it is something that can’t be explained with words, a product of twenty-three years of playing together. Her ostinatos are executed with such accuracy and consistency that I have to pinch myself to remember that she’s still there singing – it could be another loop, blending seamlessly with Loueke’s effects. The use of hand percussion and the other various shakers and bells which adorn the microphone stand slot in with Loueke’s rhythmic playing, amounting to what might as well be a full percussion section.
They treated the awestruck and appreciative crowd to an encore and then another one. We left with a deep feeling of calm after having sung along to Loueke’s uplifting composition ‘Nonvignon’ which filled the heart.
Tom Step is a London-based musician (website)
LINK: Morgan Enos’s 2023 album interview with Gretchen Parlato and Lionel Loueke
