- Record Label: Concord.
- Catalog#: 08880 7233709.
- Country Of Release: NLD.
- Year Of Release: 2012.
In a career that spans five decades and more than 40 albums,
guitarist Lee Ritenour has developed a keen understanding of the
symbiotic balance between the frontman and the supporting
players, between the wisdom of experience and the enthusiasm of
youth. On Rhythm Sessions, he surrounds himself with a cadre of
high-profile veterans and promising newcomers all of whom
reaffirm the vital role played by the rhythm section in any
worthwhile musical endeavor.
Included on the Rhythm Sessions roster are luminaries like Chick
Corea, George Duke, Stanley Clarke, Dave Grusin, Marcus Miller
and many others. Also appearing throughout the record are the
winners of Ritenour s 2012 Rhythm Section Competition, an
international event he launched in 2009 as a guitar competition
and later expanded to include aspiring keyboardists, bassists and
percussionists. The competition winners appearing on the album
include keyboardist Hans de Wild (Holland), pianist Demetrius
Nabors (Michigan), bassist Michael Feinberg (New York) and
drummer Selim Munir (Turkey). The album also features Ritenour s
19-year-old son Wesley, an aspiring drummer in his own right on
one of the tracks.
The most recent result of that ongoing experiment is an album
that embraces a variety of sounds and grooves, all rooted in
jazz, but also layered with shades of funk, R&B, Latin, world
music and more. The album s sense of variety stems from the
eclectic source material. Some songs were penned by Ritenour,
while others come from heavyweights like ie Hancock, Dave
Grusin, Chick Corea, EST and Nick Drake. I wanted the various
rhythm sections assembled for this album the guitar, keyboards,
bass and drums to be very , says Ritenour. "The songs I
wrote for this project were written with these different
musicians in mind, and the songs I picked by other songwriters
brought to mind certain players as well. So while my name may be
on this record, it s as much about these other players as it is
about me."
Ritenour's previous , 6 String Theory, had focused
primarily on guitar by featuring the international winners of his
2009 guitar competition. However, in keeping with his ongoing
commitment to discovering and mentoring new talent, he quickly
realized that there was so much ground yet to be covered. "There
are just so many great piano players and bass players and
drummers out there, so when it came time to make Rhythm Sessions,
I thought, Why not make a record featuring some of those great
players, and then extend the contest to include the rhythm
section, and let the young rhythm section winners make an
appearance on the record?"
This mix of seasoned players with newcomers results in a
multi-layered, multi-textural and extremely engaging .
"I'm at a point in my career where I'm marshalling all of my
skills and experience over 40 years and really putting it all
into an album like Rhythm Sessions, he says. I've always loved
working with great talent, and at the same time finding new young
talent and opening doors for them. I want to take as many
rtunities as I can to give something back as a way of
expressing my thanks for all that s been given to me."