A Photographic Retrospective By John Robert Rowlands

Lee Ritenour

 

Born: - 1 November 1953, Los Angeles, California, USA.

The prolific Ritenour has established himself as one of the world's

leading jazz fusion guitarists with a series of accessible albums over the past two decades.

Known as 'Captain Fingers', Ritenour became a sought-after session player in the mid-70s and,

like Larry Carlton (both regularly play a Gibson 335), has developed his own solo career.

Although heavily influenced in his early days by the relaxed styles of Wes Montgomery,

Joe Pass and Barney Kessel, he now has his own distinctive sound and fluid style.

His list of session work is awesome, but some of his notable performances were with Herbie Hancock,

Steely Dan and Stanley Clarke. Since the mid-80s Ritenour has been strongly influenced by Brazilian music.

He joined GRP Records around this time, having worked with stablemate Don Grusin in the band Friendship.

He recorded the magnificent Harlequin with GRP co-owner Dave Grusin in 1985. In the early 90s

Ritenour teamed up with Bob James, Harvey Mason and bassist Nathan East under the name of

Fourplay, who have released four soul/jazz/funk fusion albums for Warner Brothers.

In 1993 Ritenour topped the Billboard jazz chart with his accomplished tribute to Wes Montgomery,

Wes Bound, and followed it in 1995 with an excellent joint album with Larry Carlton.

 

Photograph of Lee Ritenour by John Robert Rowlands