Nate Chinen reports on Mad. Sq. Music: Oval Lawn Series jazz artist Lionel Loueke and harpist Edmar Castaneda in Chinen’s New York Times article Al Fresco Music at Twilight With a City as Counterpoint.

July 7, 2011

Al Fresco Music at Twilight With a City as Counterpoint

Lionel Loueke, the West African jazz guitarist, was just winding down a mesmerizing performance on Wednesday when the fireflies began their slow drift across the lawn. Twilight was descending on Madison Square Park, and the audience — couples on first dates, toddlers with parents, klatches of co-workers in office clothes — hardly seemed impatient for the concert’s close.

Mr. Loueke was appearing as part of a free Wednesday series at the park, on a double bill with the Colombian harpist Edmar Castaneda. And the pairing made intuitive sense: both artists engage modern jazz in ways that honor their cultural origins, and both have the capacity to astonish by virtue of their fingerstyle techniques. Both also lead rhythmically dynamic trios, though that’s about where the likeness ends.