Despite his poverty-stricken upbringing in the small West African country of Benin, jazz enthusiast Lionel Loueke [ tickets ] immersed himself in music from an early age, going to extremes to buy and care for his first guitar. In his late teens, Loueke attended the National Institute of Arts on the Ivory Coast with a focus on classical guitar studies, followed by stints at Paris' American School of Modern Music, Boston's Berklee College of Music and the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz at the University of Southern California.

Nowadays, Loueke spends his time performing with his trio Gilfema and collaborating with fellow jazz aficionados including Herbie Hancock, Sting and Angelique Kidjo. With two solo albums under his belt, he's currently touring in support of the latest, his Blue Note Records debut, "Karibu," which dropped in March.