LEE RITENOUR w/ DAVE GRUSIN

GRAMMY-winning, guitarist Lee Ritenour, AKA Captain Fingers, has a wide-ranging array of material to revive, as evidenced by A Twist of Rit. 2015 commemorates 40 years since his debut recording, First Course, on Epic Records. A Twist of Rit, set for release on July 31, 2015 via Concord Records, is a magnificent follow-up to his critically acclaimed 2012 album Rhythm Sessions.

A Twist of Rit spotlights Ritenour with several long-time musical cohorts, including keyboardists John Beasley, Dave Grusin and Patrice Rushen; saxophonist Ernie Watts; bassists Melvin Lee Davis, Tom Kennedy and Dave Weckl; and percussionist Paulinho Da Costa. That core group is augmented by drummers Ronald Bruner Jr. and Chris Coleman, along with Bob Sheppard on saxophone and Rashawn Ross playing flugelhorn. Joining Ritenour for the first time are guitarists Michael Thompson, Wah Wah Watson and David T. Walker, plus Japanese pianist Makoto Ozone.

A Twist of Rit features Ritenour’s soaring guitar lines with 12 of his compositions ranging from the funky fusion and sophisticated jazz that he has become so well known for. All of the material was captured by his longtime GRAMMY Award-winning engineer Don Murray and the tracks were recorded with everyone performing together, old-school, but with modern, state-of-the-art recording techniques.

In a remarkably prolific career that spans nearly five decades, Dave Grusin has distinguished himself as a composer, arranger, musician and bandleader, as well as a recording artist with over 25 albums to his credit and co-founder of the influential jazz label GRP. Perhaps the most impressive element of his monumental resume is his status as one of America's premier soundtrack composers, with more than 60 feature film scores (as well as numerous television projects) under his belt. Grusin's vividly evocative movie work—which has earned him eight Academy Award nominations—draws upon jazz, pop, and classical, as well as a variety of ethnic traditions.