Artist:Lee Ritenour f/Joao Bosco
Song:Latin Lover
Album:Collection
Recently I wrote about a charity album that jazz guitarist Lee Ritenour had recorded that had a hit single on it. And I promised a friend that I would write about his career and recommend a comp. Ritenour has been around since the 70s. He had his greatest success when he recorded for GRP Records from 1985-95. He still tours, records and plays sessions. But he's not as successful today. He was born Jan. 11, 1952 in Los Angeles. He started playing guitar at age eight and at age 16 he played on a Mamas & the Papas recording. Ritenour was influenced by Wes Montgomery to get into jazz. Then he played with Lena Horne and Tony Bennett. Ritenour studied classical guitar at the University of Southern California. Meanwhile, he was already regularly playing sessions in Los Angeles recording studios and in clubs. And that led to a contract with Epic Records and his 1976 debut album First Contact. The album was produced by Skip Drinkwater who had produced jazz fusion artists. And Epic wanted Ritenour's music to sound like Return to Forever or Miles Davis. They were disappointed when he didn't sound like that. Dave Grusin played keyboards on both Epic albums. Meanwhile, Ritenour was brought in to play guitar on Pink Floyd's The Wall. He left Epic and recorded for the Japanese label JVC. These were straight ahead jazz because that's what Japanese fans like. He signed with Elektra and recorded for them from 1978-84. Ritenour wrote and produced everything with Grusin. He also brought in guest singers like Patti Austin and Bill Champlin. He probably knew that Grusin was planning to start his own label. So when Grusin and recording engineer Larry Rosen started GRP Records in 1985, Ritenour wasted no time in signing with them. He recorded for GRP until 1995 after Grusin and Rosen sold the label to MCA. While he was at GRP, Ritenour could record whatever he wanted. Latin Lovers is from the 1988 album Festival. It's a tribute to Brazilian music featuring guest singers Joao Bosco and Caetano Veloso. Bosco wrote Latin Lovers and sings lead. Other musicians are Dave Grusin on keyboards, Anthony Jackson on bass, Omar Hakim on drums and Carlinhos Brown on djembe, The orchestra was arranged by Johnny Mandel and conducted by Randy Kerber. You can get Latin Lovers on this comp which covers Ritenour's GRP years. Ritenour was in Bob James' band Fourplay from 1991-97. Ritenour still tours and records. He just doesn't have a major labe behind him anymore. His 2024 album Brasil is on Candid Records. He is currently on tour in Europe. Here's Lee Ritenour featuring Joao Bosco performing Latin Lovers with Bob James on piano, Anthony Jackson on bass, Paulinho Da Costa on percussion and Harvey Mason Sr. on drums at the Cocoanut Grove in Los Angeles 1990. This entire concert can be streamed for free on YouTube.
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