HERE ARE THE HARD FACTS; IF YOU DON’T HAVE AN ALBUM WITH LEE RITENOUR’S GUITAR ON IT, YOUR COLLECTION IS NOT COMPLETE, AND PROBABLY SEVERELY LACKING. HE IS ON SOME OF THE MOST IMPORTANT ALBUMS OF THE PAST 30 YEARS, BOTH AS A SIDE MAN AND LEADER. RITENOUR IS ONE OF THE FEW JAZZ ARTISTS WHO HAVE MADE AN IMPRESSIVE CAREER BOTH IN THE STUDIO AS WELL AS ON HIS OWN ON TOUR.
HIS CAREER BEGAN AS A SESSION PLAYER FOR THE LIKES OF OLIVER NELSON, HENRY MANCINI, BARBARA STREISAND AND EVEN CARLY SIMON BEFORE PUTTING OUT HIS FIRST ALBUM WITH FELLOW STUDIO BUDS. FROM THERE, HE HAS BEEN ON SEMINAL ALBUMS WITH DAVID GRUSIN, FOURPLAY AND LARRY CARLTON.
HIS LAST FEW ALBUMS HAVE SHOWN THAT EVEN AFTER PERFORMING FOR 40 YEARS, HE IS STILL ON AN UPWARD CREATIVE ARC. HIS ‘SIX STRING THEORY’ ALBUM BACK IN 2010 WAS A SHOCKER OF A BEAUT, AND HIS LATEST RELEASE, ‘A TWIST OF RIT’ HAS THE GUITAR VET GOING BACK TO HIS EARLY RECORDINGS AND GOOSING THEM UP AGAIN WITH FRIENDS LIKE TOM SCOTT, ERNIE WATTS, DAVE WECKL AND DAVE GRUSIN. THE ‘LIVE’ SOUND OF THE ALBUM, LIKE THE ARTIST HIMSELF, IS INFECTIOUS AND JOYFUL.
WE RECENTLY CAUGHT UP WITH RITENOUR AT THE AIRPORT ON HIS WAY TO YET ANOTHER TOUR.
YOU ARE GOING IN A COMPLETE 360 DEGREE CIRCLE WITH YOUR LATEST ALBUM, A TWIST OF RIT. YOU ARE RETURNING TO TUNES ON YOUR FIRST ALBUM, SO TELL US ABOUT YOUR FIRST RECORDING SESSION.
The concept developed as the album was developing as well. At first I wrote some new material and we got to play it at my “birthday weekend” at Catalina’s Jazz Club. That was with Dave Weckl ,Makoto Ozone from Japan and Tom Kennedy. We played the new tunes “live” and then recorded them the next day after the concerts were over, so that captured the new stuff.
Then I started to think about where I wanted to go with the rest of the record, and then I realized that I was at the 40 year anniversary. It had been 1975 when I did my first record (First Course), which was scary to think of! Kind of weird and proud at the same moment.
Also, my son Wes is always turning me on to new music and stuff, so I was hearing groups like Snarky Puppy and Dirty Loops. These bands are seemingly borrowing concepts and flavors from the 70s and 80s, even some of the stuff we did back then. Wes then happened to mention some tune off of my first album, and I asked him “How do you know about that song?” It was “Sweet Syncopation.”
So I thought, “What if I took a look back at material that we could flip and twist to see if it could come out fresh for 2015.” So, that’s what we did with a 12 piece band; I wanted everything “live” but recorded like a studio record. So I’ve got the horns, the rhythm guitar, two keyboards, and I used a lot of my old “seasoned” guys that work with me all of the time, but then I also put some young blood in it with a young drummer and like that. I think I nailed it pretty well.
THERE ARE AT LEAST A COUPLE OF PEOPLE ON IT THAT WERE ON THE FIRST ALBUM
Yeah, Dave Grusin was on my first record; he’s since been on just about everything since. Ernie Watts also, so there are a few folks.
WHAT WAS THAT FIRST RECORDING LIKE FOR YOU?
That was very interesting. I was 23-24, and during the period that I was making that record I was already established as a studio musician. I had gotten started as a very young studio player, and when you’re a studio player you learn to be a chameleon. You play many different styles and take on many different roles. I loved doing that at that time, and yet I also loved writing my own songs and playing in clubs with my band. So I was really destined to be the artist, but I didn’t have the confidence when I did the first album.
I didn’t have a “Lee Ritenour Style” and I was not totally pleased with the album, and for years and years I thought that stylistically I didn’t have my style yet and was concerned about that.
I didn’t listen to the album for years. Much later, I went back and heard it and said, ”Wow; I was there all along. It was me (laughs)”
YOU BRING UP AN INTERESTING WORD: STYLE. TELL ME THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A PERSONAL STYLE AND A PERSONAL SOUND.
That’s an interesting subject. Actually it starts like any other instrument, your fingers. Or, blowing if you’re a horn player. With the piano or guitar it starts with getting a tone out of the instrument. It doesn’t really matter if you’re using a distortion pedal, a wah-wah , a phaser , this amp or the other amp or this guitar or another guitar.
If you have your style, I can pretty much pick up any guitar and still sound like me. It’s all in the fingers. There are guitar players, especially young guitar players, who are obsessed with “if I get this guitar, with this amp and this pedal, I’m going to be great. I’m going to sound like Hendrix or whoever.”
But it doesn’t work that way. The effects and the other stuff…of course it’s nice to have a great instrument and a great amp and certain sounds can be very interesting. After all, it is an electric instrument, so you’re dealing with physics and acoustics that are coming from an electric string into a pickup to an amplifier and back out.
One of the first jazz records I ever heard was Wes Montgomery, and he was a huge influence on me. His sound on “Bumpin’” just bounced off of the record. I was playing it on my sisters little vinyl record player which had 2 inch speakers in the thing.
But for me, at that time, I was 12 and the sound was just stunning. It was a huge influence and ever since that day I was obsessed with getting a very good guitar sound, which is what I’m well known for.
WHEN DID YOU FEEL IN YOUR CAREER, “OK, I’VE GOT IT.”?
As far as my sound, when I did my first record I wasn’t sure I had a Lee Ritenour style yet, but that really started to develop by the second record and Captain Fingers. I think it also started to develop…I always recommend to people that are trying to find their own sound… I’ve always like writing songs. In these 40 years I’ve written over 200-250 songs. And so writing songs for Captain Fingers, I was happy with the tunes that I was writing, so that became part of my style.
I always recommend that to young people who are trying to find their style. Write your own music and write something that you’re happy with and believe in. If you’re not happy with it, or if you feel like you are copying somebody, just keep writing and try to be true to yourself.
That’s something that you can physically look at, see and hear. Getting your own sound is very elusive, but when you write a song it’s there in front of you. It’s one help, and I always say that everyone’s got their own voice. When you call your friend on the telephone, you don’t have to say your name. They recognize you.
So, now you’ve got to say, “How do I get my voice onto my instrument?” That’s the key. When I was writing songs I was slowly evolving because I was writing certain kinds of tunes that I liked which were melodic and that were rhythmic. Those were the kind of things I gravitated towards.
When I did Twist of Rit, I went back to my tunes spanned out over four decades, and I never listen to my old catalogue. I just don’t do that; I make a record, I’m way into it and listen to it awhile when it first comes out and then I have to eventually set it free! (laughs)
So I don’t listen to my old stuff. But, for the concept of this record I had to go back and listen to my old stuff and I made a playlist of about 40 possible tunes, and then whittled it down to the ones that made it on the record.
WHAT WENT THROUGH YOUR MIND WHEN YOU HEARD YOUR OLD PLAYING?
It’s interesting. Things had definitely changed and evolved. I’ve gone through different phases, but some of the time I was saying “Hey, I had my (act) together!” (laughs) Other times I thought, “I think I’m better now.” It’s an interesting thing to look at yourself.
One of the things that I was most happy about on the records was that I was able to pick tunes that weren’t necessarily the big hits, but we just picked tunes that we thought we flip and twist, deconstruct and reconstruct and have fun with and have it mean something. So I was most happy that the songs actually hang in there and that they hold up.
WHEN YOU LOOK BACK, ISN”T IT INTERESTING THAT YOU TOOK LESSONS FROM BOTH LEGENDARY CLASSICAL GUITARIST CHRISOPHER PARKENING AND JAZZ ICON JOE PASS?
And Barney Kessel, too! In those days everyone’s name was in the phone book. So my dad, who wasn’t shy, would call Joe Pass up, and he’d call Barney and whoever and say “Can you give my son lessons?” Usually they’d say “yes.”
In the case of Barney, I went to his place. He was such a great artist and guitar player, but he wasn’t a great teacher. He taught from one book, and the book wasn’t bad. But he wasn’t a teacher, he was an artist who gave you some great information. But, the greatest thing that Barney Kessel did was that he recommended a teacher named Duke Miller, and he said that Duke was the greatest guitar teacher in Los Angeles, maybe anywhere. He told me to go see him. I was about 12 then.
I went to Duke, and he gave me everything. My entire foundation. He was an amazing mentor and teacher.
When I went to Joe Pass, that was for a couple lessons. I just tried to pick up how he played jazz. Most of the time he didn’t know how to explain how he played jazz because he learned it by ear. He was an Italian, and he grew up with these great ears. So, when he tried to explain how he played jazz it really didn’t translate into the way that he really did it.
I was 13-14 when I went to him, and I remember this quote; he was showing me all of these scales and I asked him, “Mr. Pass, it really doesn’t ever sound this when like you’re improvising. It’s just scales that you’re playing. “
He said, ”Well, I don’t really think about it that way. I’ll just play some s___ and stop me if you like something and I’ll show you how to do it.”
With Parkening, it was great. By that time I was studying classical guitar, and Chris was the #1 classical guitarist in the world at that point. I was 18 when I met him and he was 21 or something. He already had a deal on EMI Records.
He was such a perfectionist, which unfortunately his dad forced on him. He later rebelled. I went to USC because of Chris Parkening. That classical background has really paid off much more than I ever would have thought. That was just a tremendous foundation for me.
Getting back again to sound. Getting a tone out of the guitar; he and other great classical teachers really taught me how to get a tone out of the guitar
DID HE TEACH YOU HOW TO FLY FISH?
(laughs) No, he never taught me that, and he was a champion fly fisherman! Dave Grusin is also a huge fisherman, and they used to hang out together.
DID YOU MAKE A CONSCIOUS DECISION TO MAKE A CAREER IN THE STUDIOS, OR DID YOU WANT TO BE A TOURING MUSICIAN AND SOMEONE TALKED YOU OUT OF IT?
When I was young, my mom and dad were not professional musicians, and they were always concerned “how is this guy going to make a living doing this?” My dad was an amateur piano player, and his parents dissuaded him from trying to become a professional, although he was quite good. They said, “No, you can’t do ; you have to be an architect or whatever.” I think he always regretted it.
So, when I showed an interest, he just did the opposite. He helped me; he didn’t push me particularly or force me to do anything but he opened up many doors.
One thing that he was concerned about was that the travelling and the stories of getting crazy and getting into drugs and all of that stuff. So he thought that being a studio musician was better; you could stay home, you could have a family. So he gently pushed me towards the studio thing which I didn’t mind because at that time in LA and New York some of the greatest musicians were studio musicians and a bunch of jazzers were playing in the studio during the day and playing jazz clubs at night. Guys like Herb Ellis, Howard Roberts, Barney Kessel and Joe Pass…all those guys were doing studio work.
THAT WAS THE HEYDAY FOR YOU GUYS.
It was a total heyday. Then, Dave Grusin and I met when I was 19; he picked me up and I ended up getting very busy very young. Also, my teacher Duke Miller was a studio musician, so it was a great period for the guitar.
There was a legend in every part of guitar playing. Segovia was there, BB King, Albert King were there for blues, Wes Montgomery, Jim Hall, Kenny Burrell, Howard Roberts, Tal Farlow and Joe Pass…all of these top jazz artists. Chet Atkins was there, and then rock comes in and you get Jimi Hendrix, Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton. It was just an incredible period for a guitar player.
I loved anyone who can play the guitar well, so I was checking it all out. I was a natural studio musician. I love rhythm to, and my sister was playing all of the Motown records , too. I didn’t like the songs as they were to simple for me, but I kept hearing this funky rhythm thing and was going “WOW. That is some bad-ass guitar playing!” Even the R&B/Soul stuff was being checked out.
AND YOU’VE GONE FULL CYCLE AS NOW YOU ARE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR YOUNGER ARTISTS
I love that part. It’s actually been very rewarding and it keeps me young . The Six String Theory Competition started in 2010 with the Six String Theory album. I wanted to include a new talent on the record along with all of the legends, which started a contest that Berklee College of Music supported with a scholarship. Yamaha was also very involved along with D’ Adarrio and Monster Cable. All sorts of companies got involved.
It’s morphed into a non-profit, and it includes piano, bass and drums as well as six categories of guitar playing. It’s really nice.
Last year we had entries from 82 countries.It’s really interesting to watch all of these guitar videos coming in along with the piano, bass and drums from all of these different countries. And there’s no age limit, except that you have to be 16 or older. But we’ve gotten people in their 70s! So, it’s across the board; all styles. It’s been very rewarding.
I’ve tried to give the winners some real experience; something that they can hang their hat on and say “I’ve done this already.” Last year, the rhythm section got to come to the Montreux Jazz Festival courtesy of Montreux, opened for me and then played in all of the jam sessions as the host of the jam sessions and got to stay there for four nights. Fabulous.
On the new record, the Grand Prize winner, Tony Pusztai,a classical guitarist from Hungary, got to perform on my record. As did the rhythm section winners three years ago on Rhythm Sessions. So I’m always looking for, besides the scholarships for college, now Berklee gives four complete four year scholarships. It’s been really great to give back and mentor these kids.
YOU ALSO WERE HELPFUL WITH ANDY MCKEE’S CAREER.
Not through the Six String Theory Competition, but Andy was on my Six String Theory record. I had three levels of artists that I had picked for that Six String Theory album. The “Pure Legends” like BB King, Scofield, Slash, Lukather and Benson. Those big names. Then, the “Second Generation” of musicians was what I called my “Youtube.” Andy McKee was definitely one of those who had come up through Youtube and through it had become well known.
I was a fan of Andy’s and I called him up and did a couple of tracks which Steve Lukather I and did the Sting song (“Shape of My Heart”) and that was great.
Then, the third area was for someone who was completely brand new and had not done anything. We had a kid from Canada that had won, so he was the first recipient of the Berklee Scholarship and got to play on the record.
It’s Bi-Annual; you can go to www.sixstringtheory.com and read all about it. It’s starting up for the fifth year in January.
HOW IS IT PLAYING WITH MIKE STERN?
Mike is great; he’s so funny! He’s so addictive at guitar, and I don’t mean that in reference to his old habits. It’s his guitar habits; he just loves to play the guitar! 24 hours a day, and he’s great at it as well as a great guy.
I love collaborating with guitar player, with Mike, Scofield, Lukather and Benson. Over the years I’ve collaborated with so many musicians. It keeps me fresh.
IS THAT ONE OF YOUR MAJOR MOTIVATIONS, OR ARE THERE BOOKS OR FAITHS THAT MOTIVATE YOU?
Good question. No books, per se, but life motivates me. A lot of musicians, as they get older they get bitter about the music business. The business is hard; it’s tough. It does beat you up.
You have to fight to stay fresh. My philosophy is to keep pushing myself. I try to do some kind of “ twist” on every album I do. I try to push the envelope in some kind of way. I’ve done some similar albums throughout my life, I have over 43 or something albums now. My fans know that I jump around a lot; I’ve definitely played quite a lot of different types of music. I love different kinds of music and I love being tested and staying fresh, because if I can stay fresh playing music, I can deal with the business.
What happens to musicians if you don’t stay fresh in your music and you get tired and bored with the music, and even some of the greatest artists do, then it only becomes about the money. I’ve seen a lot of artists turn into “Show me the money” and they don’t really care about the art anymore. They’ve done it all, and all they want is a check.
That then makes the business harder, because now you don’t even have the love of the music. That’s faded, so the only thing left is to keep going out there to pay the rent or get more money for whatever . So if it’s not music, then the business part gets to you and you become more bitter and tired.
So, as long as I keep the music in front of me. I love making records; you can tell from the joy on this latest record, I love playing “live.”
AFTER 40 YEARS IN THE STUDIOS AND ON THE ROAD, LEE RITENOUR STILL EXUDES THE QUALITIES THAT MAKE HIM ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT GUITARISTS OF OUR GENERATION. ENTHUSIASM FOR LIFE AND THE MUSICAL LIFE GLOWS FROM EVERY NOTE THAT HE PLAYS, WHETHER IN THE STUDIO, OR IN AN INTIMATE JAZZ CLUB. HIS LAST FEW ALBUMS, LIKE HIS ATTITUDE ABOUT PLAYING, HAVE BEEN STATE OF THE ART. CHECK HIM OUT VIA HIS RELEASES OR IN CONCERT. EITHER EXPERIENCE IS AN INSPIRATION! HE’S GIGGING IN LOS ANGELES JANUARY 21-23 AT WWW.CATALINAJAZZCLUB.COM, SO GO SEE A STAR THAT IS STILL RISING AFTER 40 YEARS.