Lee Ritenour
Encyclopedia
Lee Mack Ritenour is an American
jazz
guitarist
who has recorded over 42 albums, appeared on over 3000 sessions
, and has charted over 30 instrumental and vocal contemporary jazz hits since 1976. One of his most popular songs was the smash hit, “Is It You” in 1981. Ritenour is considered to be a pioneer in the Contemporary Jazz and jazz-funk
genres of music.. Guitar Player Magazine awarded him with a Lifetime Achievement Award for the year 2010. His highly acclaimed and popular 2010 hit album “Lee Ritenour's 6 String Theory” had numerous awards in 2011 including, Guitar Album of the Year – Guitar International Magazine. UK’s Guitarist Magazine: The #1 Best 50 Guitar Albums of 2010. JAZZIZ Magazine Publisher’s Album of the Year. Top Albums of 2010 from Canada’s “The Guardian”. Lee was awarded at the 2011 Echo Awards in Germany (the German Grammy awards) for Best International Instrumentalist (Guitar) in conjunction with the album, "6 String Theory")
and given the moniker, "Captain Fingers", because of his manual dexterity on the guitar. Ritenour was a sought-after session guitar
ist by the mid-1970s, and won Guitar Player
Magazine's Best Studio Guitarist twice in the 1970s. He is noted for playing his red Gibson ES-335
and his Gibson L5
guitars.
One of his most notable influences is the pioneering jazz guitarist Wes Montgomery
among others like Joe Pass
, Kenny Burrell
and John McLaughlin
. His prolific career includes a Grammy Award
for the collaborative work Harlequin (1985), and 19 other Grammy nominations. Ritenour also holds the distinction of having two of the promotional videos for his songs "Is It You" and "Mr. Briefcase" being played during MTV
's first day. Ritenour has been at the top of many guitar polls throughout the world.
Throughout his career, Ritenour has experimented with different styles of music. A true fusionist, he has often incorporated elements of funk, pop, rock, blues, Brazilian and most recently with Amparo (2008), classical music with jazz
. In the early 1980s, Ritenour was given his own Ibanez
signature model guitar, the LR-10. The LR-10 was produced from 1981 to 1987. It can be heard exclusively on his album Rit. Currently, Ritenour plays the Gibson
s that he first played in the 1970s (the ES-335 and L5
), and now also plays his signature Lee Ritenour Model archtop guitar made by Gibson
.
-based follow up, Captain Fingers
. This was followed by two more crossover efforts—The Captain's Journey (1978) and Feel The Night (1979). On these albums, Ritenour primarily used something of a rich, yet rock-oriented distorted guitar sound, coming from his Gibson ES-335
guitar. In other instances on these albums, clean sounds were heard coming from his Gibson L5
and classical acoustic guitars (he played his classical acoustic guitars almost exclusively on his album Rio in 1979). In the 1970s, Ritenour would often use effects like wah-wah, phasers, chorus, and flangers on his electric instruments. Also, during the late 1970s, Ritenour can be heard using the 360 Systems guitar synthesizer (he is pictured sitting in front of it on the back cover of his Captain Fingers album). He can be heard using the synthesizer on the track Captain Fingers (from the album with the same title), and can also be heard playing solo with the synthesizer on the song "What Do You Want?" from "The Captain's Journey."
In 1979, Ritenour "was brought in to beef up one of [ Pink Floyd
's ] The Wall
s heaviest rock numbers, 'Run Like Hell'." He also played "uncredited rhythm guitar" on "One Of My Turns".
As the 1980s began, Ritenour began to add stronger elements of pop to his music, beginning with Rit in 1981. For this, he kept with his distorted sound, now using his Ibanez
LR-10 signature model guitar. One of tracks from "Rit", entitled, "Is It You" featuring vocals from Eric Tagg became a hit reaching number fifteen on the pop chart and number twenty-seven on the soul chart. He continued with the pop-oriented music for two albums after Rit (Rit/2 in 1982 and Banded Together in 1984), while releasing a slick, yet more crossover-styled, Direct-Disk
instrumental album in 1983 called On The Line. He also provided rhythm guitar on Tom Browne's hit, Funkin' for Jamaica.
In 1985, he recorded his first album for GRP
with Dave Grusin
, entitled Harlequin. It featured Lee primarily on his classical acoustic guitar and also featured Brazilian singer/songwriter Ivan Lins
. Up to this point, this album along with Rio arguably gave the strongest representation of Lee's Brazilian influences.
The following year, 1986, Ritenour released the album Earth Run, which featured him using the then-newly designed SynthAxe
guitar. He used nine different guitars on the album, most notably the SynthAxe
, his Valley Arts guitar, and his Gibson
Chet Atkins
acoustic. The album also featured long-time collaborator Phil Perry
for the first time, on the track "If I'm Dreaming, Don't Wake Me" — a song also featuring David Foster
and Maurice White
. He also produced songs and played guitar on Deniece Williams
's LP Hot on the Trail during that same year.
Ritenour continued in a direction strongly featuring other artists in 1987, with Portrait. The album itself has something of a strong smooth-jazz sound, and Ritenour can be heard here playing with The Yellowjackets, Djavan
, and Kenny G
.!
In 1988, his smooth jazz-influenced Brazilian music came to the forefront with Festival — another album strongly featuring his work on nylon-string acoustic guitars. The following album, Color Rit, continued with a similar mood. He did however, change direction completely again with his straight-ahead jazz album Stolen Moments. Sounding similar to Wes Montgomery
, Ritenour played alongside long-time collaborator, saxophonist Ernie Watts
, pianist Alan Broadbent
, bassist John Patitucci
(playing only acoustic) and drummer Harvey Mason
. Continuing in a Wes Montgomery
mood, Ritenour paid tribute to the man himself in 1992, with his album Wes Bound. The album featured a number of covers of Montgomery compositions, as well as some seemingly tributary pieces from Ritenour himself.
Also seen in this decade was a 1994 collaboration album with guitarist Larry Carlton
called Larry & Lee.
In 1991 Lee Ritenour, together with keyboard player Bob James
, formed the Grammy-nominated contemporary jazz group Fourplay
. Lee left the hugely successful group in 1998 to continue with his own solo works. He was replaced by Larry Carlton
.
2002 saw the release of his album, Rit's House.
In February 2004, Ritenour completed a project looking back on his career involving musicians he has worked with throughout his career called Overtime. Overtime was recorded live in a studio in front of a small audience. It was released in early 2005, and is currently available as a singular audio CD, double-DVD set or singular HD DVD. Some of the musicians featured include Dave Grusin
, Patrice Rushen
, Harvey Mason
, Alex Acuna
, Taylor Dayne
, Nathan East
, Chris Botti
, Anthony Jackson, Melvin Lee Davis, and Ernie Watts
, amongst many others.
His album entitled Smoke n' Mirrors was released in late August 2006. His son Wesley makes his debut appearance as a drummer on the album at the age of 13. This album contains Ritenour's version of Bill Withers
' 1978 hit "Lovely Day
".
Ritenour joined the 10th annual Independent Music Awards
judging panel to assist independent musicians' careers.
He was also a judge for the 8th and 9th Independent Music Awards.
In June 2010, in order to celebrate his fifty years as a guitarist, Lee Ritenour released the album 6 String Theory (in reference to 6 musical areas covered by the use of guitar). The album featured famous guitarists such as Steve Lukather
, Neal Schon
, John Scofield
, Slash
, Pat Martino
, Mike Stern
, George Benson
and B.B.King, but also younger players such as Andy McKee, Joe Robinson and Guthrie Govan. Ritenour, YamahaCorporation, The Berklee College of Music, Concord Records, Monster Cable, and D'Addario Strings collaborated to create the 2010 Yamaha 6 String Theory Guitar Competition. The winner of that international competition, that included guitarists from over 45 countries, was 16-year-old Canadian classical guitarist Shon Boublil. The competition in 2011 is continuing.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
guitarist
Guitarist
A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...
who has recorded over 42 albums, appeared on over 3000 sessions
Session musician
Session musicians are instrumental and vocal performers, musicians, who are available to work with others at live performances or recording sessions. Usually such musicians are not permanent members of a musical ensemble and often do not achieve fame in their own right as soloists or bandleaders...
, and has charted over 30 instrumental and vocal contemporary jazz hits since 1976. One of his most popular songs was the smash hit, “Is It You” in 1981. Ritenour is considered to be a pioneer in the Contemporary Jazz and jazz-funk
Jazz-funk
Jazz-funk is a sub-genre of jazz music characterized by a strong back beat , electrified sounds, and often, the presence of the first electronic analog synthesizers...
genres of music.. Guitar Player Magazine awarded him with a Lifetime Achievement Award for the year 2010. His highly acclaimed and popular 2010 hit album “Lee Ritenour's 6 String Theory” had numerous awards in 2011 including, Guitar Album of the Year – Guitar International Magazine. UK’s Guitarist Magazine: The #1 Best 50 Guitar Albums of 2010. JAZZIZ Magazine Publisher’s Album of the Year. Top Albums of 2010 from Canada’s “The Guardian”. Lee was awarded at the 2011 Echo Awards in Germany (the German Grammy awards) for Best International Instrumentalist (Guitar) in conjunction with the album, "6 String Theory")
Biography
Ritenour was born January 11, 1952 in Los Angeles, California. He played his first session when he was 16 with the Mamas & the PapasThe Mamas & the Papas
The Mamas & the Papas were a Canadian/American vocal group of the 1960s . The group recorded and performed from 1965 to 1968 with a short reunion in 1971, releasing five albums and 11 Top 40 hit singles...
and given the moniker, "Captain Fingers", because of his manual dexterity on the guitar. Ritenour was a sought-after session guitar
Session musician
Session musicians are instrumental and vocal performers, musicians, who are available to work with others at live performances or recording sessions. Usually such musicians are not permanent members of a musical ensemble and often do not achieve fame in their own right as soloists or bandleaders...
ist by the mid-1970s, and won Guitar Player
Guitar Player
Guitar Player is a popular magazine for guitarists founded in 1967. It contains articles, interviews, reviews and lessons of an eclectic collection of artists, genres and products. It has been in print since the late 1960s and during the 1980s, under editor Tom Wheeler, the publication was...
Magazine's Best Studio Guitarist twice in the 1970s. He is noted for playing his red Gibson ES-335
Gibson ES-335
The Gibson ES-335 is the world's first commercial thinline arched-top semi-acoustic electric guitar. Released by the Gibson Guitar Corporation as part of its ES series in 1958, it is neither hollow nor solid; instead, a solid wood block runs through the center of its body...
and his Gibson L5
Gibson L5
The Gibson L-5 guitar was first produced in 1922 by Gibson Guitar Corporation, then of Kalamazoo, Michigan, USA under the direction of master luthier Lloyd Loar, and has been in production ever since. It was considered the premier rhythm guitar in the big band era...
guitars.
One of his most notable influences is the pioneering jazz guitarist Wes Montgomery
Wes Montgomery
John Leslie "Wes" Montgomery was an American jazz guitarist. He is widely considered one of the major jazz guitarists, emerging after such seminal figures as Django Reinhardt and Charlie Christian and influencing countless others, including Pat Martino, George Benson, Russell Malone, Emily...
among others like Joe Pass
Joe Pass
Joe Pass was an Italian-American jazz guitarist of Sicilian descent. He is generally considered to be one of the greatest jazz guitarists of the 20th century...
, Kenny Burrell
Kenny Burrell
Kenneth Earl "Kenny" Burrell is an American jazz guitarist. His playing is grounded in bebop and blues; he has performed and recorded with a wide range of jazz musicians.-Biography:...
and John McLaughlin
John McLaughlin (musician)
John McLaughlin , also known as Mahavishnu John McLaughlin, is an English guitarist, bandleader and composer...
. His prolific career includes a Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
for the collaborative work Harlequin (1985), and 19 other Grammy nominations. Ritenour also holds the distinction of having two of the promotional videos for his songs "Is It You" and "Mr. Briefcase" being played during MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
's first day. Ritenour has been at the top of many guitar polls throughout the world.
Throughout his career, Ritenour has experimented with different styles of music. A true fusionist, he has often incorporated elements of funk, pop, rock, blues, Brazilian and most recently with Amparo (2008), classical music with jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
. In the early 1980s, Ritenour was given his own Ibanez
Ibanez
is a Japanese guitar brand owned by Hoshino Gakki. Based in Nagoya, Aichi, Japan, Hoshino Gakki were one of the first Japanese musical instrument companies to gain a significant foothold in import guitar sales in the United States and Europe, as well as the first brand of guitars to mass produce...
signature model guitar, the LR-10. The LR-10 was produced from 1981 to 1987. It can be heard exclusively on his album Rit. Currently, Ritenour plays the Gibson
Gibson Guitar Corporation
The Gibson Guitar Corporation, formerly of Kalamazoo, Michigan and currently of Nashville, Tennessee, manufactures guitars and other instruments which sell under a variety of brand names...
s that he first played in the 1970s (the ES-335 and L5
Gibson L5
The Gibson L-5 guitar was first produced in 1922 by Gibson Guitar Corporation, then of Kalamazoo, Michigan, USA under the direction of master luthier Lloyd Loar, and has been in production ever since. It was considered the premier rhythm guitar in the big band era...
), and now also plays his signature Lee Ritenour Model archtop guitar made by Gibson
Gibson Guitar Corporation
The Gibson Guitar Corporation, formerly of Kalamazoo, Michigan and currently of Nashville, Tennessee, manufactures guitars and other instruments which sell under a variety of brand names...
.
Style
Ritenour's solo career began in 1975 with the recording of his album First Course. Released in 1976, the album gave a strong representation of the mid-1970s L.A. Jazz/Funk sound. Critics did, however, complain that his first album was "lightweight." So Lee countered this with his strongly crossoverCrossover jazz
In the wake of fusion's decline in the mid-1970s, jazz artists who continued to seek wider audiences began incorporating a variety of popular sounds into their music, forming a group of accessible styles that became known as crossover jazz. Influential saxophonist Grover Washington, Jr...
-based follow up, Captain Fingers
Captain Fingers
- Musicians :* Lee Ritenour – Electric guitar, Classical guitar, 360 systems polyphonic guitar synthesizer* Keyboards - Dave Grusin, Dawilli Gonga , Ian Underwood, Patrice Rushen, David Foster...
. This was followed by two more crossover efforts—The Captain's Journey (1978) and Feel The Night (1979). On these albums, Ritenour primarily used something of a rich, yet rock-oriented distorted guitar sound, coming from his Gibson ES-335
Gibson ES-335
The Gibson ES-335 is the world's first commercial thinline arched-top semi-acoustic electric guitar. Released by the Gibson Guitar Corporation as part of its ES series in 1958, it is neither hollow nor solid; instead, a solid wood block runs through the center of its body...
guitar. In other instances on these albums, clean sounds were heard coming from his Gibson L5
Gibson L5
The Gibson L-5 guitar was first produced in 1922 by Gibson Guitar Corporation, then of Kalamazoo, Michigan, USA under the direction of master luthier Lloyd Loar, and has been in production ever since. It was considered the premier rhythm guitar in the big band era...
and classical acoustic guitars (he played his classical acoustic guitars almost exclusively on his album Rio in 1979). In the 1970s, Ritenour would often use effects like wah-wah, phasers, chorus, and flangers on his electric instruments. Also, during the late 1970s, Ritenour can be heard using the 360 Systems guitar synthesizer (he is pictured sitting in front of it on the back cover of his Captain Fingers album). He can be heard using the synthesizer on the track Captain Fingers (from the album with the same title), and can also be heard playing solo with the synthesizer on the song "What Do You Want?" from "The Captain's Journey."
In 1979, Ritenour "was brought in to beef up one of [ Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd were an English rock band that achieved worldwide success with their progressive and psychedelic rock music. Their work is marked by the use of philosophical lyrics, sonic experimentation, innovative album art, and elaborate live shows. Pink Floyd are one of the most commercially...
's ] The Wall
The Wall
The Wall is the eleventh studio album by English progressive rock group Pink Floyd. Released as a double album on 30 November 1979, it was subsequently performed live with elaborate theatrical effects, and adapted into a feature film, Pink Floyd—The Wall.As with the band's previous three...
s heaviest rock numbers, 'Run Like Hell'." He also played "uncredited rhythm guitar" on "One Of My Turns".
As the 1980s began, Ritenour began to add stronger elements of pop to his music, beginning with Rit in 1981. For this, he kept with his distorted sound, now using his Ibanez
Ibanez
is a Japanese guitar brand owned by Hoshino Gakki. Based in Nagoya, Aichi, Japan, Hoshino Gakki were one of the first Japanese musical instrument companies to gain a significant foothold in import guitar sales in the United States and Europe, as well as the first brand of guitars to mass produce...
LR-10 signature model guitar. One of tracks from "Rit", entitled, "Is It You" featuring vocals from Eric Tagg became a hit reaching number fifteen on the pop chart and number twenty-seven on the soul chart. He continued with the pop-oriented music for two albums after Rit (Rit/2 in 1982 and Banded Together in 1984), while releasing a slick, yet more crossover-styled, Direct-Disk
Direct to Disk Recording
Direct-to-disk recording refers to methods by which analog signals and digital signals such as digital audio and digital video are digitally recorded to optical disc recording technologies such as DVDs, and CD optical discs...
instrumental album in 1983 called On The Line. He also provided rhythm guitar on Tom Browne's hit, Funkin' for Jamaica.
In 1985, he recorded his first album for GRP
GRP Records
GRP Records is an American jazz record company, owned by Universal Music Group and operates through its Verve Music Group. The company's name has had different meanings. In its early days, it stood for "Grusin/Rosen Productions," after the founders...
with Dave Grusin
Dave Grusin
David Grusin is an American composer, arranger and pianist. Grusin has composed many scores for feature films and television, and has won numerous awards for his soundtrack and record work, including an Academy award and 12 Grammys...
, entitled Harlequin. It featured Lee primarily on his classical acoustic guitar and also featured Brazilian singer/songwriter Ivan Lins
Ivan Lins
Ivan Guimarães Lins is a Latin Grammy winning Brazilian musician. He has been an active performer and songwriter of Brazilian popular music and jazz for over 30 years. His first hit, Madalena, was recorded by Elis Regina in 1970. Beyond his own performance of his compositions, Simone is his most...
. Up to this point, this album along with Rio arguably gave the strongest representation of Lee's Brazilian influences.
The following year, 1986, Ritenour released the album Earth Run, which featured him using the then-newly designed SynthAxe
SynthAxe
The SynthAxe is a fretted, guitar-like MIDI controller, created by Bill Aitken, Mike Dixon, and Tony Sedivy and manufactured in England in the middle to late 1980s. It is a musical instrument that uses electronic synthesizers to produce sound and is controlled through the use of an arm resembling...
guitar. He used nine different guitars on the album, most notably the SynthAxe
SynthAxe
The SynthAxe is a fretted, guitar-like MIDI controller, created by Bill Aitken, Mike Dixon, and Tony Sedivy and manufactured in England in the middle to late 1980s. It is a musical instrument that uses electronic synthesizers to produce sound and is controlled through the use of an arm resembling...
, his Valley Arts guitar, and his Gibson
Gibson Guitar Corporation
The Gibson Guitar Corporation, formerly of Kalamazoo, Michigan and currently of Nashville, Tennessee, manufactures guitars and other instruments which sell under a variety of brand names...
Chet Atkins
Chet Atkins
Chester Burton Atkins , known as Chet Atkins, was an American guitarist and record producer who, along with Owen Bradley, created the smoother country music style known as the Nashville sound, which expanded country's appeal to adult pop music fans as well.Atkins's picking style, inspired by Merle...
acoustic. The album also featured long-time collaborator Phil Perry
Phil Perry
Phil Perry is an American R&B singer, songwriter, musician and a former member of the soul group The Montclairs from 1971 to 1975.- Biography :...
for the first time, on the track "If I'm Dreaming, Don't Wake Me" — a song also featuring David Foster
David Foster
David Walter Foster, OC, OBC , is a Canadian musician, record producer, composer, singer, songwriter, and arranger, noted for discovering singers such as Michael Bublé, Josh Groban, and Charice Pempengco; and for producing some of the most successful artists in the world, such as Céline Dion, Toni...
and Maurice White
Maurice White
Maurice White is a Grammy Award–winning American singer, songwriter, musician, record producer, arranger. He is the older brother of Verdine White and Fred White and the leader and founder of the band Earth, Wind & Fire...
. He also produced songs and played guitar on Deniece Williams
Deniece Williams
June Deniece Chandler known by her stage name Deniece Williams is an American Grammy Award-winning singer, songwriter and record producer who achieved success in the 1970s and 1980s...
's LP Hot on the Trail during that same year.
Ritenour continued in a direction strongly featuring other artists in 1987, with Portrait. The album itself has something of a strong smooth-jazz sound, and Ritenour can be heard here playing with The Yellowjackets, Djavan
Djavan
Djavan is a Brazilian singer/songwriter, Djavan combines traditional Brazilian rhythms with popular music drawn from the Americas, Europe and Africa. He can arguably be categorized in any of the following musical genres: Música Popular Brasileira , samba, or Latin dance...
, and Kenny G
Kenny G
Kenneth Bruce Gorelick , better known by his stage name Kenny G, is an American, adult contemporary and smooth jazz saxophonist. His fourth album, Duotones, brought him breakthrough success in 1986...
.!
In 1988, his smooth jazz-influenced Brazilian music came to the forefront with Festival — another album strongly featuring his work on nylon-string acoustic guitars. The following album, Color Rit, continued with a similar mood. He did however, change direction completely again with his straight-ahead jazz album Stolen Moments. Sounding similar to Wes Montgomery
Wes Montgomery
John Leslie "Wes" Montgomery was an American jazz guitarist. He is widely considered one of the major jazz guitarists, emerging after such seminal figures as Django Reinhardt and Charlie Christian and influencing countless others, including Pat Martino, George Benson, Russell Malone, Emily...
, Ritenour played alongside long-time collaborator, saxophonist Ernie Watts
Ernie Watts
Ernest James "Ernie" Watts is an American jazz and rhythm and blues musician. He plays saxophone and flute. He might be best known for his work with Charlie Haden's Quartet West and his Grammy Awards as an instrumentalist...
, pianist Alan Broadbent
Alan Broadbent
Alan Broadbent, MNZM , is a jazz pianist, arranger and composer best known for his work with artists such as Woody Herman, Diane Schuur, Chet Baker, Irene Kral, Sheila Jordan, Charlie Haden, Warne Marsh, Bud Shank, and many others.Broadbent studied piano and music theory in his own country, but in...
, bassist John Patitucci
John Patitucci
John Patitucci is an American Grammy-winning jazz double bass and jazz fusion electric bass player.-Biography:Patitucci is of Italian descent and was born in Brooklyn, New York, where he began playing the electric bass at age ten, composing and performing at age 12, as well as the acoustic bass at...
(playing only acoustic) and drummer Harvey Mason
Harvey Mason
Harvey William Mason is an American jazz drummer. He has worked with many jazz and fusion artists such as Bob James, The Brecker Brothers, Lee Ritenour, Herbie Hancock's Headhunters and almost all the Mizell Brothers productions with Donald Byrd, Johnny Hammond, Bobbi Humphrey and Gary Bartz...
. Continuing in a Wes Montgomery
Wes Montgomery
John Leslie "Wes" Montgomery was an American jazz guitarist. He is widely considered one of the major jazz guitarists, emerging after such seminal figures as Django Reinhardt and Charlie Christian and influencing countless others, including Pat Martino, George Benson, Russell Malone, Emily...
mood, Ritenour paid tribute to the man himself in 1992, with his album Wes Bound. The album featured a number of covers of Montgomery compositions, as well as some seemingly tributary pieces from Ritenour himself.
Also seen in this decade was a 1994 collaboration album with guitarist Larry Carlton
Larry Carlton
Larry Carlton is an American jazz, smooth jazz, jazz fusion, pop, and rock guitarist and singer. He has divided his recording time between solo recordings and session appearances with various well-known bands...
called Larry & Lee.
In 1991 Lee Ritenour, together with keyboard player Bob James
Bob James (musician)
Robert McElhiney James is a jazz keyboardist, arranger and producer.-Biography:During the 1970s, Bob James played a major role in establishing the smooth jazz genre. "Angela", the instrumental theme from the sitcom Taxi, is probably Bob James' most well-known work to date...
, formed the Grammy-nominated contemporary jazz group Fourplay
Fourplay
Fourplay is a contemporary jazz quartet in the United States. The original members of the group were Bob James , Lee Ritenour , Nathan East , and Harvey Mason . In 1997, Lee Ritenour left the group and Fourplay chose Larry Carlton as his replacement...
. Lee left the hugely successful group in 1998 to continue with his own solo works. He was replaced by Larry Carlton
Larry Carlton
Larry Carlton is an American jazz, smooth jazz, jazz fusion, pop, and rock guitarist and singer. He has divided his recording time between solo recordings and session appearances with various well-known bands...
.
2002 saw the release of his album, Rit's House.
In February 2004, Ritenour completed a project looking back on his career involving musicians he has worked with throughout his career called Overtime. Overtime was recorded live in a studio in front of a small audience. It was released in early 2005, and is currently available as a singular audio CD, double-DVD set or singular HD DVD. Some of the musicians featured include Dave Grusin
Dave Grusin
David Grusin is an American composer, arranger and pianist. Grusin has composed many scores for feature films and television, and has won numerous awards for his soundtrack and record work, including an Academy award and 12 Grammys...
, Patrice Rushen
Patrice Rushen
Patrice Rushen is a Grammy Award-winning African American R&B and jazz vocalist, composer and pianist.-Biography:...
, Harvey Mason
Harvey Mason
Harvey William Mason is an American jazz drummer. He has worked with many jazz and fusion artists such as Bob James, The Brecker Brothers, Lee Ritenour, Herbie Hancock's Headhunters and almost all the Mizell Brothers productions with Donald Byrd, Johnny Hammond, Bobbi Humphrey and Gary Bartz...
, Alex Acuna
Alex Acuña
Alejandro Neciosup Acuña aka Alex Acuña is a Peruvian drummer and percussionist, in the Afro-Cuban jazz style.Born in Pativilca, Peru, Acuña played in local bands from the age of ten, and moved to Lima as a teenager. At the age of eighteen he joined the band of Perez Prado, and in 1967 he moved...
, Taylor Dayne
Taylor Dayne
Taylor Dayne was born Leslie Wunderman on March 7, 1962 before later adopting her current stage name. She is an American pop vocalist, songwriter, and dance artist. Overall, she has had eighteen individual hit songs reach the top ten in Billboard magazine...
, Nathan East
Nathan East
Nathan Harrell East is a jazz, R&B and rock bass player and vocalist. East holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Music from the University of California, San Diego...
, Chris Botti
Chris Botti
Christopher Stephen "Chris" Botti , is an American trumpeter and composer. In 2007, Botti was nominated for two Grammy Awards including Best Pop Instrumental Album. On December 4, 2009, he was nominated for three more Grammy Awards including Best Pop Instrumental Album and Best Long Form Music Video...
, Anthony Jackson, Melvin Lee Davis, and Ernie Watts
Ernie Watts
Ernest James "Ernie" Watts is an American jazz and rhythm and blues musician. He plays saxophone and flute. He might be best known for his work with Charlie Haden's Quartet West and his Grammy Awards as an instrumentalist...
, amongst many others.
His album entitled Smoke n' Mirrors was released in late August 2006. His son Wesley makes his debut appearance as a drummer on the album at the age of 13. This album contains Ritenour's version of Bill Withers
Bill Withers
William Harrison "Bill" Withers, Jr. is an American singer-songwriter and musician who performed and recorded from 1970 until 1985. Some of his best-known songs are "Lean on Me", "Ain't No Sunshine", "Use Me", "Just the Two of Us", "Lovely Day", and "Grandma's Hands"...
' 1978 hit "Lovely Day
Lovely Day (song)
"Lovely Day" is a song by American soul and R&B singer Bill Withers. Published in 1977 , the song was written by Withers and Skip Scarborough and appears on Withers' 1978 album Menagerie....
".
Ritenour joined the 10th annual Independent Music Awards
The Independent Music Awards
The Independent Music Awards is an international program that honors top-ranked independent artists and releases in more than 50 Album, Song, Music Video and Design categories....
judging panel to assist independent musicians' careers.
He was also a judge for the 8th and 9th Independent Music Awards.
In June 2010, in order to celebrate his fifty years as a guitarist, Lee Ritenour released the album 6 String Theory (in reference to 6 musical areas covered by the use of guitar). The album featured famous guitarists such as Steve Lukather
Steve Lukather
Steve "Luke" Lukather is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, arranger, and record producer best known for his work with the rock band Toto. Lukather has played with many artists, released several solo albums, and worked as a composer, arranger, and session guitarist on more than 1,500 albums...
, Neal Schon
Neal Schon
Neal George Joseph Schon is an American rock guitarist, songwriter, and vocalist best known for his work with the band Journey. He is the only member to have recorded on all of Journey's albums...
, John Scofield
John Scofield
John Scofield , often referred to as "Sco," is an American jazz guitarist and composer, who has played and collaborated with Miles Davis, Dave Liebman, Joe Henderson, Charles Mingus, Joey Defrancesco, Herbie Hancock, Pat Metheny, Bill Frisell, Pat Martino, Mavis Staples, Phil Lesh, Billy Cobham,...
, Slash
Slash (musician)
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and B.B.King, but also younger players such as Andy McKee, Joe Robinson and Guthrie Govan. Ritenour, YamahaCorporation, The Berklee College of Music, Concord Records, Monster Cable, and D'Addario Strings collaborated to create the 2010 Yamaha 6 String Theory Guitar Competition. The winner of that international competition, that included guitarists from over 45 countries, was 16-year-old Canadian classical guitarist Shon Boublil. The competition in 2011 is continuing.
Discography
| Date | Title | Label |
|---|---|---|
| 1976 | First Course First Course First Course is the first studio album released by jazz guitarist Lee Ritenour. The album was released in 1976 on LP by the label Epic Records. It was re-released on CD by Columbia Records in 1990.-Reception:... |
Epic #EK 46114 |
| 1977 | Lee Ritenour and His Gentle Thoughts Gentle Thoughts Gentle Thoughts is the second solo album by Lee Ritenour. It features Ernie Watts, Dave Grusin, Patrice Rushen, Anthony Jackson, Harvey Mason and Steve Forman.-Track listing:#"Captain Caribe/Getaway" #"Chanson" #"Meiso"... |
JVC #VDJ-1001 |
| 1977 | Captain Fingers Captain Fingers - Musicians :* Lee Ritenour – Electric guitar, Classical guitar, 360 systems polyphonic guitar synthesizer* Keyboards - Dave Grusin, Dawilli Gonga , Ian Underwood, Patrice Rushen, David Foster... |
Epic #PE 34426 |
| 1977 | Sugar Loaf Express Sugar Loaf Express Sugar Loaf Express is a direct to disc studio album by Lee Ritenour released in 1977.-Track listing:#"Sugar Loaf Express"#"Morning Glory"#"That's the Way Of The World"#"Slippin' in the Back Door"#"Tomorrow"#"Lady Soul"-Musicians:*Eric Gale... |
JVC #JIMI-2008-2 |
| 1978 | Friendship Friendship (album) -Track listing:#"Sea Dance"#"Crystal Morning"#"Samurai Night Fever"#"Life is the Song We Sing"#"Woody Creek"#"It's a Natural Thing"-Musicians:*Steve Forman*Steve Gadd*Dave Grusin*Don Grusin*Abraham Laboriel*Ernie Watts... (Different from 1979 release) |
Jasrac #VDJ-1003 |
| 1978 | The Captain's Journey The Captain's Journey The Captain's Journey is the sixth studio album by guitarist Lee Ritenour, released in 1978 through Elektra Records.-Track listing:-Personnel:... |
Elektra #6E-136 |
| 1979 | Rio Rio (Lee Ritenour album) -Track listing:#"Rainbow"#"San Juan Sunset"#"Rio Funk"#"It Happens Everyday"#"Ipanema Sol"#"Simplicidad"#"A Little Bit of This and a Little Bit of That"-Personnel:*Alex Acuña*Rubens Bassini*Chico Batera*Paulinho Braga*Jose Da Silva*Dave Grusin... |
GRP Records #GRD-9524 |
| 1979 | Feel the Night | Discovery #71010 |
| 1979 | Friendship (Currently reissued with The Captain's Journey on Wounded Bird Records) | Elektra 6E-241 |
| 1980 | The Best of Lee Ritenour | Epic #EK 36527 |
| 1981 | Rit | Discovery #71013 |
| 1982 | Rit 2 | Discovery #71017 |
| 1982 | Dave Grusin and the N.Y. /L.A. Dream Band, with Dave Grusin Dave Grusin David Grusin is an American composer, arranger and pianist. Grusin has composed many scores for feature films and television, and has won numerous awards for his soundtrack and record work, including an Academy award and 12 Grammys... |
GRP Records #A 1001 & GRD 9501, JVC #28022 |
| 1983 | On The Line (This version differs in some takes to the 1985 GRP Release, and is available reissued with Rio on Wounded Bird Records), with Dave Grusin Dave Grusin David Grusin is an American composer, arranger and pianist. Grusin has composed many scores for feature films and television, and has won numerous awards for his soundtrack and record work, including an Academy award and 12 Grammys... |
GRP Records #GRD-9525 |
| 1984 | Banded Together | Discovery #71018 |
| 1985 | Harlequin, with Dave Grusin Dave Grusin David Grusin is an American composer, arranger and pianist. Grusin has composed many scores for feature films and television, and has won numerous awards for his soundtrack and record work, including an Academy award and 12 Grammys... |
GRP Records #GRD-9522 |
| 1985 | GRP Live in Session, with Dave Grusin Dave Grusin David Grusin is an American composer, arranger and pianist. Grusin has composed many scores for feature films and television, and has won numerous awards for his soundtrack and record work, including an Academy award and 12 Grammys... |
GRP Records #A-1023 & #GRD 9032 |
| 1986 | Earth Run Earth Run Earth Run is a 1986 album by Lee Ritenour released in April 1986 on GRP Records. The album went to number 10 on the Top Jazz Albums chart.-Track listing:-Charts:-Musicians:*Paulinho Da Costa - Percussion... |
GRP Records #GRP-D-9538 |
| 1987 | Portrait | GRP Records #GRD-9553 |
| 1988 | Festival | GRP Records #GRD-9570 |
| 1989 | Color Rit | GRP Records #GRD-9594 |
| 1990 | Stolen Moments | GRP Records #GRD-9615 |
| 1991 | Collection | GRP Records #GRD-9645 |
| 1991 | Fourplay Fourplay Fourplay is a contemporary jazz quartet in the United States. The original members of the group were Bob James , Lee Ritenour , Nathan East , and Harvey Mason . In 1997, Lee Ritenour left the group and Fourplay chose Larry Carlton as his replacement... , Fourplay |
Warner Bros. #26656-2 |
| 1993 | Wes Bound | GRP Records #GRD-9697 |
| 1993 | Fourplay Fourplay Fourplay is a contemporary jazz quartet in the United States. The original members of the group were Bob James , Lee Ritenour , Nathan East , and Harvey Mason . In 1997, Lee Ritenour left the group and Fourplay chose Larry Carlton as his replacement... , Between The Sheets |
Warner Bros. #45340-2 |
| 1995 | Larry & Lee, with Larry Carlton Larry Carlton Larry Carlton is an American jazz, smooth jazz, jazz fusion, pop, and rock guitarist and singer. He has divided his recording time between solo recordings and session appearances with various well-known bands... |
GRP Records #GRD-9817 |
| 1995 | Fourplay Fourplay Fourplay is a contemporary jazz quartet in the United States. The original members of the group were Bob James , Lee Ritenour , Nathan East , and Harvey Mason . In 1997, Lee Ritenour left the group and Fourplay chose Larry Carlton as his replacement... , Elixir |
Warner Bros. #WPCR-293 |
| 1997 | Alive In L.A. | GRP Records #GRD-9882 |
| 1997 | A Twist of Jobim | I.E. Music #314 533 893-2 |
| 1997 | Fourplay Fourplay Fourplay is a contemporary jazz quartet in the United States. The original members of the group were Bob James , Lee Ritenour , Nathan East , and Harvey Mason . In 1997, Lee Ritenour left the group and Fourplay chose Larry Carlton as his replacement... , Best Of Fourplay |
Warner Bros. #9 46661-2 |
| 1998 | This Is Love | i.e. Music #314 557 290-2 |
| 1999 | Two Worlds, with Dave Grusin Dave Grusin David Grusin is an American composer, arranger and pianist. Grusin has composed many scores for feature films and television, and has won numerous awards for his soundtrack and record work, including an Academy award and 12 Grammys... , Renée Fleming Renée Fleming Renée Fleming is an American soprano specializing in opera and lieder. Fleming has a full lyric soprano voice.Fleming has performed coloratura, lyric, and lighter spinto soprano repertoires. She has sung roles in Italian, German, French, Czech, and Russian, aside from her native English. She also... , Gil Shaham Gil Shaham -Biography:Gil Shaham was born in Urbana, Illinois, while his parents, Israeli scientists, were on an academic fellowship at the University of Illinois. His father Jacob was an astrophysicist, and his mother, Meira Diskin, was a cytogeneticist. His sister is the pianist Orli Shaham. He is a... and Julian Lloyd Webber Julian Lloyd Webber Julian Lloyd Webber is a British solo cellist who has been described as the "doyen of British cellists".-Early life:Julian Lloyd Webber is the second son of the composer William Lloyd Webber and his wife Jean Johnstone . He is the younger brother of the composer Andrew Lloyd Webber... . |
Decca #012 157 960-2 |
| 2001 | A Twist Of Marley | GRP Records #UCCR-1003 |
| 2002 | Rit's House | GRP Records #VERF 01197-2 |
| 2003 | The Very Best Of Lee Ritenour | GRP Records #314-589-281-2 |
| 2003 | The Best Of Lee Ritenour | Sony Music Entertainment Inc #EK 85795 |
| 2003 | A Twist of Motown | GRP Records #B0000115-02 |
| 2005 | Overtime | Peak Records #PKD-8531-2 |
| 2005 | World Of Brazil | GRP Records #B0004926-02 |
| 2006 | Smoke N Mirrors | Peak Records #PKD-30018-2 |
| 2008 | Amparo, with Dave Grusin Dave Grusin David Grusin is an American composer, arranger and pianist. Grusin has composed many scores for feature films and television, and has won numerous awards for his soundtrack and record work, including an Academy award and 12 Grammys... |
Decca Records #UCCU-1192 |
| 2010 | Lee Ritenour's 6 String Theory | Concord Records #CRE-31911-02 |