They’re soul mates who play an elegant mix of Bossa Nova, power ballads, and Foo Fighters.
Grammy-nominated vocalist Gretchen Parlato and renowned guitarist Lionel Loueke offer a duo concert at LeFrak Concert Hall in Flushing on Saturday, Oct. 7, at 8 pm.
Expect them to play many songs from Lean In, an album they released on May 19, 2023. It features soundscapes from Pop, R&B, Afrobeat, and Brazilian favorites sung in English, Portuguese, and Fon, which is spoken in Benin. But Parlato and Loueke claim that Lean In is more than an album. It’s a story about their two decades of connection, inspiration, and friendship.
Ticket prices run from $35 to $45.
A native of Los Angeles, Parlato is a two-time Grammy nominee. In 2011, a Jazz Times poll listed her at the best female vocalist, and the Jazz Journalist Association gave her the same honor in 2012.
Born in West Africa’s Benin, Loueke studied music and art in Boston, France, Ivory Coast, and Los Angeles. In 2009, he won a Fellow Award from United States Artists.
Parlato and Loueke met while studying at the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz at UCLA in 2001. By 2003, they were playing duo concerts and partnering with other musicians. Then in 2005, they released their first album.
LeFrak Concert Hall, an acoustically perfect venue with seats for about 500 guests, is located at 153-49 Reeves Ave. on Queens College’s campus (Exit 24 off the Long Island Expressway).
Kupferberg Center for the Arts administrates LeFrak, as well as nearby Colden Auditorium, which has capacity for 2,143, and the 476-seat Irving and Susan Wallack Goldstein Theater. Kupferberg also operates the Godwin-Ternbach Museum and the Queens College Art Center.