SOLO FLIGHT
IN A CAREER that spans more than 50 years, Lee Ritenour has played on tracks recorded by some of music’s biggest names. Aretha Franklin, Joe Henderson, Quincy Jones, Dizzy Gillespie, B.B. King, David “Fathead” Newman, George Benson, Pink Floyd — those are just some of the artists Ritenour has worked with. Along the way, he launched his own solo career in 1976 with the album First Course, performed as a member of Barry White’s Love Unlimited Orchestra, and recorded three chart-topping albums with the smooth-jazz group Fourplay. He’s also become known for playing a red dot-neck Gibson ES-335 that he’s used throughout his career.
“EVERYTHING WAS THERE: ABOUT 40 TO 50 AMPS, MAYBE A HUNDRED GUITARS, MUSIC FROM SINCE I WAS 12 YEARS OLD”
Growing up in L.A. in the 1960s, Ritenour began playing guitar at age eight, and by about the age of 15 had cut what he calls his “first big one,” a demo session with the Mamas and the Papas. By his own estimation Ritenour has recorded approximately 45 albums, yet until the release of his new record, Dreamcatcher (Mascot Label Group), he had never recorded a true solo album, one created without input from other musicians or producers. Made at his home studio in Marina del Rey, California, during the Covid-19 pandemic, Dreamcatcher finds him, for once, flying on his own. “People have been telling me for years, ‘Rit, you gotta make a solo guitar record,’” he relates. “In the past, I’ve always been the band guy, the ensemble guy, the collaborative-guitarplayer guy. So this was the one project I hadn’t done. And this year, I knew it was time.”
It certainly was. Covid-19 wasn’t the only thing the 69-year-old has had to deal with. In 2018, the house and studio he and his wife owned in Malibu burnt down in one of the fires that has ravaged California. “About
