Gretchen Parlato & Lionel Loueke

Gretchen Parlato and Lionel Loueke met in 2001 while studying at the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz at the University of California, Los Angeles. "We started playing more and more together. It was clear to me that we were connected, " says Loueke. They've been performing consistently since 2003, and two years later they captured at least a hint of their chemistry on Gretchen's debut solo album. The mutual guest appearances were repeated several more times after that, and it was only last year's Lean In, on which they were accompanied by top professionals bassist Burniss Travis and drummer (and Gretchen's husband) Mark Guiliana, that showed the duo's full potential, as well as the richness of their repertoire, which blends classical pop and jazz with Latin, R'n'B and Afrobeat, as well as English, Portuguese and Benin's indigenous Fon dialect. The duo will perform at the Cabaret des Péchés on 18 April.