Album Reviews

Lee Ritenour  will make your mind twist, with the album “A Twist Of Rit”

Lee Ritenour will make your mind twist, with the album “A Twist Of Rit”

Lee Mack Ritenour amazes us again with nis new album A Twist Of Rit, wich was released on the 21st of August 2015. As with the Jobim tribute album “A Twist of Jobim” and Ritenour’s “A Twist of Marley” and “A Twist of Motown”, the guitarist’s new A Twist of Rit highlights some of the gems of his career and a couple of new tracks. With material ranging from fusion to blues to straight-ahead to contemporary jazz, the icon dazzles and glows with brilliance.

Featuring 3 tracks recorded at Sunset Sound Recording Studio with Makoto Ozone, Tom Kennedy and Dave Weckl. “A Twist of Rit” also includes a star-studded rhythm & horn section performing a number of new compositions combined with fresh, “twisted” versions of some of his earliest funky, fusion material from the 70s and early 80s. Combining some of the hottest rhythm players out there. Joining Ritenour on A Twist of Rit are such longtime collaborators as pianist Dave Grusin, drummer Dave Weckl, saxophonist Ernie Watts, and Fender Rhodes keyboardist John Beasley.

Ritenour is born on January 11th, 1952, in Los Angeles. Lee played his first session when he was 16 with the Mamas & the Papas and given the moniker, “Captain Fingers“, because of his manual dexterity on the guitar. Ritenour was a sought-after session guitarist 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. Since his early recordings in the 1970s, Lee has held numerous first spots on guitar polls, a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Canadian SJ Awards, and a prestigious “Alumnus of the Year” Award from the University of Southern California. He has recorded more than 40 albums that have yielded 35 chart songs. Lee celebrated five decades as a guitarist in 2010 with the release of 6 String Theory.

The Six String Theory competition, which is now a non profit Organization, continues to grow. In 2012, Lee expanded the competition for Piano, Bass and Drums musicians to complete a full rhythm section. Over the past 5 years, finalists have been from, Brazil, Canada, France, Hungary, Israel, Japan, Macedonia, Northern Ireland, South Africa, Sweden, The Netherlands, Turkey and the United States, The next competition will take place in 2016.

The smooth jazz will not be the same after Ritenour’s “A Twist Of Rit”. We all hope that Lee won’t stop doing such a great work, because these treasure will last for the generations to come.

Milena Staniskovska

November 11th, 2015

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