Pablo Held Investigates

I first became aware of Lionel Loueke’s playing on records by Gretchen Parlato, Terence Blanchard and of course through closely following everything that Herbie Hancock was up to. I was completely blown away and wanted to know more about him. That led me to check out his own record “Virgin Forest” and then when it came out I obsessed over “Karibu”– I still go back to that album regularly! All of the stuff he’s done since is amazing. In fact, his new album is released today!

I really admire his unique approach to the guitar and his musicality in general. Lionel is doing things I never heard anybody else do – he’s a true innovator! I was very excited to talk to him. Hope you enjoy this conversation!

This episode is in German, for English subtitles please watch the video version.

I’m excited to include Christian Lillinger, one of the most individual voices on the drumset in music today, in this series of interviews. Christian is a role model for me on a lot of levels. His no-bullshit/no-compromise attitude is admirable and I think it results in a crystal clear vision of a singular artist. As a leader & sideman he’s been involved with a lot of my favorite groups today: GRUND, Open Form For Society, GRÜNEN, Dell/Lillinger/Westergaard, Amok Amor, Ronny Graupe’s SPOOM and Gropper/Graupe/Lillinger, to name a few. Also, Christian runs an incredible label called PLAIST MUSIC, where he releases genre-free music by himself and other cutting edge artists.

I have know Christian for a long time. We came up more or less at the same time and throughout the years I’ve have had the great pleasure of playing with him on different occasions*. I’m happy to share our interview which by the way features a little cameo (totally unplanned, although it looks staged) by a frequent collaborator of Christian’s. Enjoy!