Home » Jazz Articles » Lee Ritenour
Jazz Articles about Lee Ritenour
Lee Ritenour: Smoke 'n' Mirrors
by Woodrow Wilkins
With a deep admiration for Wes Montgomery and a penchant for Brazilian music, Lee Ritenour is one of the most prolific guitarists in modern jazz. Whether as a front man, sideman or member of a group, “Captain Fingers can always be counted on for quality music. A Grammy winner, Ritenour has performed or recorded with several jazz, pop and R&B acts throughout his career, including Steely Dan, Bob James, Tony Bennett, The Mamas and the Papas and the Brothers Johnson, ...
Continue ReadingLee Ritenour: Smoke n' Mirrors
by Jeff Winbush
If travel is a broadening experience for the average Joe, it must be positively a revelation for the restless artist. Such is the case for Lee Ritenour, a musician who abandoned the comfort zone of cranking out innocuous jams for the far more risky territory of fusing world beat with contemporary jazz.In 2005, the guitarist performed in a series of concerts in Johannesburg and Cape Town, South Africa. The trip left such an impression upon him that for ...
Continue ReadingLee Ritenour: Overtime
by Woodrow Wilkins
In his three decades as a solo artist, guitarist Lee Ritenour has covered a lot of territory. While cranking out one excellent album after another as a frontman, he's also found time to sit in as a guest with other artists and even spent a few years as a member of the supergroup, Fourplay. Among those he has recorded or performed with are Maynard Ferguson, David Sanborn, the Brothers Johnson (remember “Strawberry Letter # 23 ?), Djavan, Kenny G, the ...
Continue ReadingLee Ritenour: A Twist of Marley
by Dave Hughes
Lee Ritenour made quite a splash four years ago with his A Twist of Jobim CD, in which he pulled together a rotating cast of all-stars to offer a program of contemporary jazz updates of classics from the Antonio Carlos Jobim songbook. He’s used the same formula for his latest offering, A Twist of Marley. The results are, well, interesting. It doesn’t hue as closely to the contemporary jazz format as the Jobim tribute, nor is it that close to ...
Continue ReadingLee Ritenour: Alive in L.A.
by Dave Hughes
This is the last album Lee Ritenour had left on his contract with GRP. He's already founded a new label, i.e. Music, on which has already appeared the all-star recording A Twist of Jobim, which was really a Lee Ritenour album except in name. What easier way to fulfill the rest of your contract than to submit a live album? Have a tape recorder running during a gig, turn it in, be done with it. I must admit that these ...
Continue ReadingVarious Artists: A Twist of Jobim
by Douglas Payne
This appropriately “smooth jazz" tribute to Antonio Carlos Jobim is perhaps one of the best that's come out over the last few years. Like many of Jobim's records, it goes down like a smooth, relaxing drink. Producer, arranger and nominal leader guitarist Lee Ritenour has collected some fine talent, particularly frequent collaborator Dave Grusin, and crafted some very nice moments throughout. Highlights include “Water to Drink" (featuring Ritenour and Grusin), “Captain Bacardi" (an old Ritenour / Grusin staple with Eric ...
Continue Reading
