Lee Ritenour, (born Lee Mack Ritenour, 11 January 1952, Los Angeles,
CA, USA) has maintained a delicate balance between the individual
creative vision and the group dynamic, since the beginning of his
career. He did his first session work in the late ‘60s with the
Mamas and the Papas, who dubbed him Captain Fingers for demonstrating
incredible dexterity while still in his teens. Since his early
recordings in the 1970s, he has earned a GRAMMY Award and 19 GRAMMY
nominations, numerous #1 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. As a
young guitarist, he put his combination of diverse musical styles and
brilliant technical chops to work on more than 3,000 sessions with a
broad spectrum of artists, and was a founding member of Fourplay,
which is considered the most successful group in contemporary jazz.
Lee celebrated five decades as a guitarist in 2010 with the release of
6 String Theory, which features Steve Lukather, Neal Schon, John
Scofield, Slash, Mike Stern, George Benson and B.B. King. The album
also introduced Andy McKee, Joe Robinson and Guthrie Govan. The record
was in conjunction with his first multinational 6 String Theory
Competition, sponsored by Yamaha, Berklee College of Music, Montreux
Jazz Festival, Blue Note Tokyo, Crown of the Continents Guitar
Workshop and Festival, Monster, Premier Guitar, Jazz Monthly, Music
Connection, Concord Records and D’Addario. The Six String Theory
competition continues to grow, and has now expanded to include a
Rhythm Section competition for Piano, Bass and Drums. In 2012, the
Grand Prize winners were honored to appear with Lee on Rhythm
Sessions, which also features luminaries such as Chick Corea, George
Duke, Stanley Clarke, Dave Grusin, Marcus Miller and many others. The
2014 winners performed at the illustrious Montreux Jazz Festival and
the guitar grand prize winner, Tony Pusztai, recorded a track on
Ritenour’s 2015 A Twist of Rit album starring greats such as:
Academy® & Grammy® winning Dave Grusin, Dave Weckl, John Beasley,
and Ernie Watts. Prize highlights for the 2016 competition included:
Berklee College of Music Scholarships; performance at the legendary
Blue Note Tokyo with Lee Ritenour and up-and-coming All-Star musicians
from Japan; recording on Lee Ritenour’s forthcoming album at the
stunning Woodshed Recording Studio in Malibu and Scholarships and
Performances at Crown Guitar Festival in scenic Montana. Other prizes
include travel and hotel for performance and recording opportunities,
Yamaha Instruments & Endorsements, Professional Mentoring with Lee
Ritenour, Monster and D’Addario prizes. The competition is held
bi-annually and has just completed the 6th competition with applicants
from 55 countries. “When I first started this competition it was my
hope it would grow to become a valuable entity that would have the
support of so many established musicians in mentoring aspiring ones.
In four short years we have reached incredible goals and I couldn’t
be more thrilled and grateful to have so many artists be part of this
extraordinary musical process and journey.” - Lee Ritenour On April
22, 2016, Concord Records released The Vinyl LP Collection: a
limited-edition, individually numbered box set celebrating a key
period in the prolific solo career of renowned guitarist Lee Ritenour.
The Collection contains five classic LPs by Ritenour: Earth Run
(1986), Portrait (1987), Festival (1988), Color Rit (1989) and, on
vinyl for the first time, the GRAMMY® Award-nominated Wes Bound
(1993). These albums have each been remastered, pressed on
audiophile-quality, 180-gram vinyl and restored with original artwork
and liner notes. An accompanying 46-page booklet contains new liner
notes by Ritenour plus never-before-seen photos and ephemera from an
extensive scrapbook collection lovingly kept by the guitarist’s late
father.
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30/05/2020 Last update