Lee Ritenour's 6 String
Theory is more than a tribute to the guitar, it is
a testament to how versatile and fluid the instrument is in the hands of
twenty
of the most talented guitarists in the world including Lee
Ritenour, Taj Mahal, John Scofield,
George
Benson, Keb' Mo', Joey Bonamasso, Mike
Stern, B.B. King, Slash,
Neal Schon, and Pat Martino to name but a
few of the
many talents on this super-star album released on the Concord Music Group
label.
Lee Ritenour's 6
String Theory
Lee Ritenour's 6 String Theory: Lay It Down; Am I
Wrong; LP (For Les Paul); Give Me One Reason; "68"; In Your Dreams; My One and
Only Love; Moon River; Why I Sing The Blues; Daddy Longlicks; Shape of My
Heart; Drifting; Freeway Jam; Fives; Caprices, Op 20, NO. 2 and 7
Personnel: Lee Ritenour: Guitar; John Scofield:
Guitar (Track 1); Harvey Mason: Drums (Tracks 1, 2, 9); Melvin Lee Davis: Bass
(Tracks 1, 13); Larry Goldings: Organ (Tracks 1, 5, 6, 14), Rhodes/Clavinet
(Track 2, 0), Burlitzer (Track 4); Keb' Mo': Guitar, Vocals (Tracks 1, 9); Taj
Mahal: Guitar, Harmonica, Vocals (Track 2), Nathan East: Bass (Tracks 2, 9);
Pat Martino: Guitar (Track 3); Joey DeFrancesco: Organ (Tracks 3, 8); Will
Kennedy: Drums (Tracks 3, 8, 11); Joe Bonamasso: Guitar, Vocals (Track 4);
Robert Cray: Guitar, Vocals (Track 4); Vinnie Colaiuta: Drums (Tracks 4, 5, 6,
14); Tal Wickenfeld: Bass (Tracks 5, 6, 14); Steve Lukather: Guitar (Tracks 5,
6, 11); Neal Schon: Guitar (Tracks 5, 6); Slash: Guitar (Track 5); George
Benson: Guitar (Tracks 7, 8); B. B. King: Guitar, Vocals (Track 9); Vince Gil:
Guitar, Vocals (Track 9); Jonny Lang: Guitar, Vocals (Track 9); Joe Robinson:
Guitar (Track 10); Andy McKee: Steel String Acoustic Guitar (Track 11), Guitar
(Track 12); Paulinho Do Costa: Percussion (Tracks 11, 12); Jimmy Johnson: Bass
(Tracks 11, 12); John Beasley: Keyboards (Tracks 11, 12), Rhodes (Track 13);
Mike Stern: Guitar (Track 13); Tomoyasu Hotei: Guitar (Track 13); Simon
Phillips: Drums (Track 13); Guthrie Govan: Guitar (Track 14); Shon Boublil:
Guitar (Track 15)
Lee Ritenour's 6 String Theory was produced by Lee
Ritenour and John Burk
and released on the Concord
Music Group label. With a career that includes over 3,000 recording
sessions, 19 GRAMMY® nominations, 1 GRAMMY Award, and countless albums,
assembling a Who's Who of guitar maestros for the release Lee Ritneour's 6 String
Theory may have been his biggest and also his easiest challenge. Combining
rock, blues, country, jazz, acoustic, and classical in a single release was not
about the genres, but about the instrument that conveys the sound, the 6 string
guitar. Assembling the exclusive list of guitarists was the easy part as there is
a tremendous amount of respect amongst fellow "slashers" and Lee only needed to
make the phone call and they started to show up with guitars in hand. The story
goes that Lee came up with the title, 6
String Theory, then drew up his list of guitarists, and the recordings came
last, and what a recording it is.
The release leads off with the track Lay It Down, which features jazz guitarist John Scofield trading
licks with Lee on a track that includes a funky bass line held together by bass
guitarist Melvin Lee Davis and drummer Harvey Mason. The track Am I Wrong, a delta blues song, features guitarists Keb' Mo' and Taj Mahal along
with Taj's fiery harmonica and Keb' and Taj's hot vocals. The track LP (For Les Paul) changes the flow with
an up-tempo song that features Pat Martino on guitar, doing a duet with Les,
and Joey DeFrancesco on organ.
The track Give Me One
Reason is smoldering guitar licks by guitarists Joe Bonamasso and Robert
Cray that accompany their raw vocals. The track "68" lets the rockers take center stage with guitarists Steve Lukather, Neal Schon, and Slash flailing away with
tight changes, blazing licks, and smooth transitions on the Steve Lukather song.
In Your Dreams, written by Lee, shows
the lighter side of rock guitarists Neal Schon and Steve Lukather who accompany
Lee on this jazz piece. The release flows into a couple of tracks that feature the
stellar George Benson on guitar, My One
and Only Love and Moon River.
What guitar tribute release
would be complete with out Lucille and blues guitarist extraordinaire B. B.
King who Lee features on the B. B. King song, Why I Sing The Blues, along with Vince Gill, Keb' Mo', Jonny Lang,
and Lee strumming away on their guitars. Giving way to the next generation of
guitarists, Lee features Joe Robinson on the track Daddy Longlicks who shows us the unique fingerstyle of playing.
Shape of My Heart features Andy McKee and Lee in a poignant duet of acoustic guitars that
is covered by Steve Lukather on electric guitar, a beautiful ballad of strings.
Drifting, written by Andy McKee,
features Andy Mckee and Lee picking away and trading licks like two kids
telling a story, and the story [song] becomes larger than life as the telling
[picking] goes on.
The release Freeway Jam, where the word "jam" is an
understatement in the hands of guitar magicians Mike Stern, Tomoyasu
Hotei, and Lee, is a rousing jam where each guitar is out to top the chops of
the other, and the lightening sound is blistering, bring sunglasses when you
listen to this track. The last two tracks introduce the listener to two
up-and-coming artists in Guthrie Govan on the track Fives that he wrote and shows the speed of a Formula 1 car with the
grace of a jungle cat, and classical guitarist Shon Boublil on the track Caprices, OP 20, No. 2 and 7.
One of most powerful releases to be made in the past twenty
years, Lee Ritenour's 6 String Theory
will go down as a tour-de-force for musicians around the world.
Websites where you can procure Lee Ritenour's 6 String
Theory are Concord Music Group, Barnes
and Noble, Amazon,
iTunes,
and CD Universe.
© September 2010. Luxury Experience. www.LuxuryExperience.com.
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