2 Guitar Ninjas Raul Midon And Lionel Loueke Collaborate On Tour Kicking Off Mid-June

Singer/Songwriter/Guitar Wizards Raul Midón and Lionel Loueke explore their talents sharing the stage this Summer in a beautiful partnership that is both a refreshing musical exchange and fine example of camaraderie. A mix of West African and Latin American Roots. A perfect marriage across North America.

Lionel and Raul will close each night together demonstrating their creative synergy spurring harmonious magic that kicks off June 15th in Florida and finishes in Montreal on June 30th.

"I'm excited to be working with Lionel Loueke, a musician blessed with unparalleled skill and a boundless creative imagination. We will make music with no limits". Raul Midón

"I am so excited and so looking forward to playing with Raul Midon and to explore other musical territories without any boundaries.Raul is an inspiring musician both on guitar and voice." Lionel Loueke

Heralded as a "one-man band who turns a guitar into an orchestra and his voice into a chorus," (NY Times) Raul Midón has collaborated with such heroes as Herbie Hancock, Stevie Wonder, Jason Mraz, Queen Latifah and Snoop Dogg. Blind since birth, Midón produced-engineered his 2017 album, Bad Ass and Blind, using special computer software for the blind. The album, which confronts the challenges of his blindness with verve and grace, received a 2018 Grammy nomination in the category Best Jazz Vocal Album. Midón's 2018 follow up release, If You Really Want, featuring the Metropole Orkest under the direction of Vince Mendoza, was nominated for a 2019 Grammy award in this same category.

Benin guitarist and vocalist Lionel Loueke has received critical acclaim from both his idols and contemporaries on his latest release, The Journey. Paul Simon raves that Loueke is "one of a rare handful of guitarists that move effortlessly between his West African roots and modern American Jazz", and Sting cites Loueke as "one the most original, essential and inspiring musicians on our planet today." As a Blue Note Recording artist and member of Herbie Hancock's band for the past 15 years, Loueke has recorded and toured with artists as unique and varied as Terence Blanchard to singers Angelique Kidjo and Luciana Souza. Praised by Herbie Hancock as "a musical painter," Loueke combines harmonic complexity, soaring melody, a deep knowledge of African folk forms, and conventional and extended guitar techniques to create a warm and evocative sound of his own.

EPK Info here:

http://www.arcartists.com/raul-lionel-epk

Tour Dates:

Saturday, June 15th Bailey Hall- Davie Fl

Sunday, June 16th Triple Door- Seattle, WA

Monday, June 17th Kuumbwa Jazz Center- - Santa Cruz, CA

Tuesday, June 18th Berkeley Jazz School (Master Class) Berkley, CA

Wednesday, July 19th Freight & Salvage - Berkley, CA

Friday, June 21st Victoria Jazz Festival- Victoria, BC

Saturday, June 22nd Disney Hall - LA, CA

Sunday, June 23rd Museum of Music Making - Carlsbad, CA

Monday, June 24th Dazzle- Denver, CO

Wednesday, June 26th Rochester Jazz Fest - Rochester, NY

Thursday/Friday June 27/ 28th Iridium Jazz Club- NYC

Saturday, June 29th Freihofer's Saratoga Jazz Festival- Saratoga, NY

Sunday, June 30th Upstairs Jazz- Montreal, QC