Lee Ritenour
Color Rit

"Hard-to-define-music" is a typical expression of the online music guide Allmusic, used for those records that are difficult to categorize within a precise genre. Nothing is more appropriate to define the vast work of Lee Ritenour, American guitarist and composer blessed with good eclecticism, who during his long career explores the different facets of the jazz fusion-smooth jazz genre, although within we find pop motifs, funk rhythms but above all the sounds that come from the nation he feels most his own: Brazil.

Since the late Seventies, Ritenour has recorded numerous LPs for the record label GRP (an acronym for Grusin/Rosen Production), a label at the forefront in sound quality through digital technologies, and specialized in that type of contaminated jazz sound, not appreciated by purists but also not blatantly commercial.

"Color Rit" from 1989 encompasses Ritenour's best stylistic ideas, combined with a now well-matured Brazilian sensitivity. A well-varied album, it features lush arrangements and catchy tunes (several tracks are sung): the varied instrumentation and the mix of acoustic instruments, percussion, and keyboards make it truly a gem for audiophiles.

The track laconically titled E' is one of the most successful on the record: sung in Portuguese, it is a samba where Lee's acoustic guitar and the "brasileire" harmonies in the background create a compelling groove. Mister Reggae, as the title suggests, echoes Jamaican sounds in an 80s style, as evidenced by the synth chords in the background.

The tracks interpreted by Philip Perry, a long-time collaborator and R'n'B singer, are almost entirely convincing: the choral buildup of All the same tonight is beautiful, starting quietly and then gaining altitude with a decidedly "soul" chorus. Malibù and I can't let go have a somewhat cunning feeling, but they fit well in the middle, are well interpreted and arranged.

The title track is my favorite piece, the only one in which the piano part plays an important role in the song's economy: very captivating, it recalls the Latin jazz style of Roberto Perera.

While Bahia Funk is proposed as a nice opener (it's first on the list), to listen to in the shower dreaming of Copacabana and Curaçao, the even more successful Tropical Storm, isn't as "stormy" as one might expect, but a fine example of catchy Caribbean sound with funk undertones. The experimental track Etude, a true "study" for acoustic guitar, is entrusted with the task of closing the album, where a certain minimalism far removed from the exuberant sound of the other pieces is sought.

The title well summarizes the fundamental characteristic of the album: the color, mostly tending towards yellow and red, but taking on innumerable shades. Combining the musical stimuli of a colorful musical culture like the Brazilian one with the typically American fusion sensitivity Ritenour comes from is not an easy task, and here ours seems to succeed really well, with great style and experience.