BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//Find Local//findlocal.community//EN CALSCALE:GREGORIAN METHOD:PUBLISH BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:America/Los_Angeles BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:-0800 TZOFFSETTO:-0700 TZNAME:PDT DTSTART:19700308T020000 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=3;BYDAY=2SU END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:-0700 TZOFFSETTO:-0800 TZNAME:PST DTSTART:19701101T020000 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=11;BYDAY=1SU END:STANDARD END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT UID:4bc3d031-2f98-4d25-8dfd-30db8cd03faa@findlocal.community DTSTAMP:20261015T190706Z DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20261111T190000 DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20261111T210000 SUMMARY:LEE RITENOUR DESCRIPTION:For Lee Ritenour\, there aren’t many ‘firsts’ left to achieve . During his dazzling five-decade career\, the fabled LA guitarist has t aken his music to the outer limits\, alighting on every genre and occupy ing every position in the rock ‘n’ roll firmament. He’s been an enfant t errible of ’70s fusion\, a crossover star of the ’80s pop chart\, an hon orary exponent of Brazilian jazz\, and the fingers behind ’90s supergrou p\, Fourplay. Ritenour’s accolades include: 45 albums\,16 Grammy nominat ions\, Alumnus of the year at USC\, Los Angeles’ Jazz Society Honoree (2 019)\, plus thousands of sessions with legends such as Frank Sinatra\, P ink Floyd\, B.B. King\, Tony Bennett\, among others. And yet\, when he c hecks the rear-view mirror\, the 68-year-old acknowledges he’s never mad e a record like Dreamcatcher. “People have been telling me for years: ‘R it\, you gotta make a solo guitar record’. In the past\, I’ve always bee n the band guy\, the ensemble guy\, the collaborative-guitar-player guy. So this was the one project I hadn’t done. And this year\, I knew it wa s time.” Weaving tapestries of instrumental guitar and conjuring eclecti c moods\, the 12 tracks of Dreamcatcher rank amongst the most melodic an d tinglingly beautiful in Ritenour’s catalogue. But there’s a power and purpose here\, too\, hinting at the darker circumstances that sparked th is new record. “Our house and my studio in Malibu\, California\, burned down in 2018\,” he recalls. “About 100 of my guitars went up in the fire \, plus 40 amps\, lots of music\, the history of my whole career\, prett y much. A week after the fire\, I went to the hospital\, which I’d never had to do before\, for surgery to replace an aortic valve. So those inc idents and the support from my family and friends absolutely went into t his music. Making this record was a life-saver for me.” Dreamcatcher mig ht have been born from personal challenges\, but the record took shape a gainst the global tragedy of COVID-19. Ritenour had already written seve ral key tracks before the shutdown. But as he settled into the makeshift studio at his new home in Marina Del Rey\, equipped with little more th an seven guitars\, a computer interface and good intentions\, the guitar ist let the context flood into the music he was tracking. “It was an imp ortant album for me\,” he notes. “Especially now\, with everything going on in the world.” Even without lyrics\, every track tells a story. Take the molten blues licks of “Abbot Kinney”\, named for the fabled bouleva rd in Venice\, California. “One day\, when everything was shut down\,” s ays Ritenour\, “I drove my bike there and was just devastated to find it completely empty. But then I heard this rock guitar start up. I don’t k now if it was a kid\, but somebody nearby had just turned it up to 10 an d said\, ‘Fuck it\, I’m gonna have some fun. It brought a huge smile to my face and inspired me to write that song on my Les Paul.” Likewise\, a nyone living through the age of Covid-19 will feel a deep affinity with “2020”: a three-part symphony in which Ritenour takes the pulse of the t imes. “The three parts were a reflection of what was going on this year\ ,” he nods\, “when all of a sudden everybody’s life shut down. I was thi nking about the young musicians who were out of work\, and people in eve ry walk of life.” Elsewhere\, Dreamcatcher delves beyond the pandemic. W hile Ritenour strived to switch up musical styles – from the title track ’s dovetailing classical guitars to the Taylor baritone that drives “Sta rlight’s” tumbling folk\, and the mad scientist multi-tracking of “Could n’t Help Myself” – he also ran the gamut of mood. “Because even I get ti red\,” he reasons\, “of solo guitar albums when it pretty much all sound s the same.” As such\, “For DG” salutes the harmonic sensibilities of th e great producer\, pianist\, and long-time comrade\, Dave Grusin. But it couldn’t be further from “Charleston”\, whose mellow slink is laced wit h bittersweet thoughts on the ebb and flow of US race relations. “A few years ago\, I played in Charleston\, South Carolina\,” recalls Ritenour\ , “and it was charming\, and the people were warm\, and it was a very mi xed\, soulful audience. Charleston has a history of the beginnings of sl avery\, but this was modern-day Charleston\, y’know? But then\, a few ye ars later\, I’m writing this tune while watching the continuation of the struggle. As musicians who travel all over the world\, we go\, ‘What? T his shit is still going on in the US?’ So it was appropriate to dedicate that song to Black Lives Matter.” Dreamcatcher not only confronts the h ere-and-now: it also slips back into Ritenour’s rich history. Long-stand ing fans will recognise “Morning Glory Jam” as a rework of the guitarist ’s classic 1977 tune. “In 2015’s A Twist Of Rit\, I had revisited a lot of older material\, so I wanted to keep this record fresh. But one day\, I remembered when I did sessions for Barry White and how there had been four or five guitar players all playing these incredible rhythm parts. That’s the kind of groove I had in my head for this new version of Morni ng Glory.” Casting his mind still further back\, The Lighthouse shares i ts name with the storied LA jazz club where the teenage guitarist was to be found most nights in the mid-’60s. “I’d started playing guitar at ei ght\, and by 12\, I was very serious. Everybody’s number was in the phon ebook back then\, right? So my dad – who was an amateur piano player and always very supportive – called up Joe Pass and Barney Kessel and asked them to give me a guitar lesson. Barney ended up recommending this incr edible teacher\, Duke Miller\, and that was the foundation of all my pla ying. The Lighthouse was this very funky jazz club where I met Wes Montg omery. By the age of 16\, I’d take the car over there in the late aftern oons and just watch the bands soundcheck.” Whatever genre you were into\ , recalls Ritenour\, the guitar scene at that magical juncture in the mi d-’60s was hard to beat. “In every field\, there were legends. In jazz\, you had Joe Pass\, Wes Montgomery\, Barney Kessel\, Howard Roberts\, Ji m Hall\, and Pat Martino. In Blues\, B.B. King\, Albert King\, and John Lee Hooker. In Rock\, Jimi Hendrix was coming\, Clapton and Beck were al ready there. In Country\, you had Chet Atkins\, and the all-time great c lassical guitar master\, Segovia\, Sabicas\, and Paco de Lucia for Flame nco! Great guitar playing was everywhere you turned\, and I loved them a ll...How could you not? Those eclectic early tastes served Ritenour well . The jazz giants at The Lighthouse were a passion for life: just check out his love-letter to the great Mr Montgomery on 1993’s Wes Bound. But from the day he lucked into his first session for The Mamas And The Papa s at age 16\, Ritenour had the widescreen musicality to forge a career a s one of LA’s busiest session men. “I remember John Phillips had this in credible studio in his Beverly Hills mansion\, and I just thought\, ‘Thi s is what I want’. As for my favourite and memorable sessions\, I rememb er getting called by Bob Ezrin to record on “One Of My Turns” and “Comfo rtably Numb” on Pink Floyd’s The Wall...incredible. And then there was Q uincy Jones producing George Benson’s “Give Me the Night” album and all of us waiting ‘til 4 am for Stevie Wonder to show up and play a song he’ d written for George’s album...Ha! Too many memories!” Like close friend and fellow session ace\, Toto’s Steve Lukather\, Ritenour was always mo re than a gun-for-hire. In ’76\, he launched his own solo career with Fi rst Course\, and managed the magic trick of following his muse while fin ding enviable commercial success\, especially in the ’80s. “On the West Coast\, fusion was just starting\,” he remembers\, “and we were beginnin g to combine the melodies of pop music\, but with the sophistication of jazz. We were listening to people like John McLaughlin\, Chick Corea\, a nd then at the same time\, Grover Washington Jr\, David Sanborn\, and Bo b James. So it was really a natural evolution for my own records to evol ve out of that. When I finally did win a Grammy in 1985 – for “Early A.M . Attitude” – I think I was actually stuck on the freeway. But awards ar en’t the reason we’re making music.” Likewise\, the jazz supergroup Four play scored a commercial hit with their eponymous 1991 debut album. For Ritenour\, the attraction was all about the chemistry between the band m embers. “The magic was immediate between me\, Bob James\, Harvey Mason a nd Nathan East. You can’t draw that sort of thing up on a chart – it eit her works or it doesn’t. We did three albums\, but then the business got so complicated that I took a pass in 1997. But there was always friends hip and musical respect\, and we are talking about doing one last reunio n project together.” Respect was palpable\, too\, when Ritenour made the 2010 album\, Lee Ritenour’s Six String Theory: an all-star album that d rafted many of the famous friends he’d picked up along his path. “In the early days\, you could never put country\, jazz\, rock and all these st yles on the same record. The record companies would say\, ‘No\, you’ve g ot to have one theme. But by 2010\, the labels weren’t as powerful as th ey were\, and they were looking for interesting projects. I went to my b uddy Steve Lukather\, George Benson and B.B. King\, and they all said ye s. We opened it up to players like Joe Bonamassa and John Scofield – and everyone played their ass off” Collaboration might be a constant\, but in a career full of left turns\, Dreamcatcher is another thrilling detou r for Lee Ritenour. Both by necessity and design\, this latest album rep resents music in its purest form: one man\, channelling his headspace an d the history unfolding around him\, using the instrument that has susta ined him all these years. There is a first time for everything\, and the re has never been a better time for “Dreamcatcher”. “I’ve never done any thing like this before\, and it’s an important missing piece in my guita r history. It was inspiring\, and it was meant to happen this year\, in these times – after a lifetime of playing the guitar\,” he considers\, “ this project reaffirmed just how much I love the guitar.” Bonus Tracks ( Japan release): “More Stories” and “Thank You Dreamcatcher”? “More Stori es... There was a series of songs that I wrote on the Yamaha classical g uitar – Via Verde\, More Stories\, and Dreamcatcher. Some of the harmoni es and the way I was interpreting playing solo guitar were somewhat simi lar on those three songs. So that was the first time when I wanted to ma ke sure there was going to be enough variety on the record. Because even I get tired of great solo guitar albums when it pretty much sounds the same. So that was very much the challenge I gave myself. That’s why ther e are different sounds on the record\, the different approaches\, and th e different compositions – and even a different way of playing sometimes . And then\, “Thank You Dreamcatcher” was one of the first songs that I wrote for the record on the baritone guitar. I always liked that song ve ry much… It’s one of my favourite tunes on the record.”\n\nTickets: http s://www.etix.com/ticket/p/44225649/lee-ritenour-mon11226-oakland-yoshis\ n\nhttps://findlocal.community/event/4bc3d031-2f98-4d25-8dfd-30db8cd03fa a LOCATION:Yoshi's\, Oakland\, CA URL:https://findlocal.community/event/4bc3d031-2f98-4d25-8dfd-30db8cd03fa a STATUS:CONFIRMED SEQUENCE:0 END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR