You know you’re in for a serious night of axe wielding when bassist Melvin Davis brings his 7 string behemoth to keep up with the six string theorists like Lee Ritenour and Mike Stern who, along with drummer Sonny Emory, gave the ravenous Catalina crowd a solid red meat 90 minute set of some of the most frenetic fun on the frets ever encountered.
“We’ve been on the road for one minute!” boasted a cheerful Ritenour, who seemed inspired by the friendly sparring with Stern as they went through a mix of blues, jazz and rocking rousers. A bedrock hard take of Jeff Beck’s “Freeway Jam” and Stern’s own slinky “Blues For Al” highlighted the prismatic contrasts between the two guitarists, with Stern’s rough and delta swamp textures serving as a perfect partner to Ritenour’s clean and polished pickings. The latter opened the standard “Stolen Moments” with a graceful CTI-ish selection of notes and chords, while Davis supplied some hip vocal accompaniment and Emery shifted speeds faster than a Maserati on the Autobahn.
Stern was spotlighted on his delicately deft “Wing and a Prayer,” which showed an alarmingly gracefully and romantic side, while the quartet closed the set with a heavy hitting “Lay it Down” which had Ritenour hitting the strings like he was touring with the Yardbirds, and Emory flipping his sticks on the cymbals like he was working flapjacks at The Pantry. For guitar freaks, it was Ritenour winning on the number of guitars used 5:1, but a 15 round draw in terms of who was standing last. A night to string along with!