HERBIE MANN

Herbert Jay Solomon (April 16, 1930 – July 1, 2003), better known as Herbie Mann, was an American jazz flautist and important early practitioner of world music. Early in his career, he also played saxophones and clarinets (including bass clarinet), but Mann was among the first jazz musicians to specialize on the flute and was perhaps jazz music's preeminent flautist during the 1960s.

Career

Herbie Mann was born in Brooklyn, New York. As a teen, he attended Lincoln H.S. in Brighton Beach and was actually failed in a music class. He talks a lot about "the groove." In the 1950s, Mann "locked into a Brazilian groove in the early '60s, then moved into a funky, soulful groove in the late '60s and early '70s. By the mid-'70s he was making hit disco records, still cooking in a rhythmic groove." He describes his approach to finding the groove as follows:"All you have to do is find the waves that are comfortable to float on top of." Mann argues that the "epitome of a groove record" is Memphis Underground or Push Push, because the "rhythm section locked all in one perception."

World music

Mann was an early pioneer in the fusing of jazz and world music. He incorporated elements of African music in 1959 following a State Department sponsored tour of the continent, adding a conga player to his band, and the same year recorded Flautista, an album of Afro-Cuban jazz. In 1961 Mann took a tour of Brazil and returned to the United States to record with Brazilian players including Antonio Carlos Jobim and guitarist Baden Powell. These albums helped popularize the bossa nova. Many of his albums throughout his career returned to Brazilian themes. He went on to record reggae in London (in 1974), Middle Eastern (1966 and 1967) (with oud and dumbek), and Eastern European styles.

In the mid-1960s Mann hired a young Chick Corea to play in some of his bands, still with a Latin tinge. His work with Corea has been released on the compilation Complete Latin Band Sessions. In the late 1970s, early 1980s Mann played duets at New York City's Bottom Line and the Village Gate to sold out crowds with the late Sarod virtuso Vasant Rai.

Crossover pop

Following the 1969 hit album Memphis Underground a number of disco-style smooth jazz records in the 1970s, mainly on Atlantic records, brought some criticism from jazz purists but helped Mann remain active during a period of declining interest in jazz. The musicians on these recordings are some of the best-known session players in soul and jazz, including singer Cissy Houston (mother of Whitney Houston), guitarists Duane Allman and Larry Coryell, bassists Donald "Duck" Dunn and Chuck Rainey and drummers Al Jackson and Bernard Purdie, these last from the Muscle Shoals studio in Alabama.

In this period Mann had a number of songs cross over to the pop charts — rather rare for a jazz musician. A 1998 interview reported that "At least 25 Herbie Mann albums have made the top 200 pop charts, success denied most of his jazz peers."

Later career

He founded his own record labels Embryo, distributed by Atlantic Records, and which, apart from his own recordings, produced the 520 Series for jazz albums, such as Ron Carter's Uptown Conversation (1970); Miroslav Vitous' first solo album, Infinite Search (1969); Phil Woods and his European Rhythm Machine at the Frankfurt Jazz Festival (1971); and Dick Morrissey and Jim Mullen's Up (1976), which featured the Average White Band as a rhythm section; and the 730 Series, with a more rock-oriented style, including Zero Time (1971) by TONTO's Expanding Head Band.

He later set up "Kokopelli Records" after difficulty with established labels. Mann recorded over 100 albums, and performed regularly. His first gig was playing in the Catskills at age 15. His last, on May 3, 2003 was at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival at age 73. Herbie Mann died at age 73 on July 1, 2003 after a long battle with prostate cancer.

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Biography by Scott Yanow

Herbie Mann played a wide variety of music throughout his career. He became quite popular in the 1960s but in the '70s became so immersed in pop and various types of world music that he seemed lost to jazz. However, Mann never lost his ability to improvise creatively as his later recordings attest.

Herbie Mann began on clarinet when he was nine but was soon also playing flute and tenor. After serving in the Army, he was with Mat Mathews's Quintet (1953-54) and then started working and recording as a leader. During 1954-58 Mann stuck mostly to playing bop, sometimes collaborating with such players as Phil Woods, Buddy Collette, Sam Most, Bobby Jaspar and Charlie Rouse. He doubled on cool-toned tenor and was one of the few jazz musicians in the 1950s who recorded on bass clarinet; he also recorded in 1957 a full album (for Savoy) of unaccompanied flute.

After spending time playing and writing music for television, in 1959 Mann formed his Afro-Jazz Sextet, a group using several percussionists, vibes (either Johnny Rae, Hagood Hardy or Dave Pike) and the leader's flute. He toured Africa (1960) and Brazil (1961), had a hit with "Comin' Home Baby" and recorded with Bill Evans. The most popular jazz flutist during the era, Mann explored bossa nova (even recording in Brazil in 1962), incorporated music from many cultures (plus current pop tunes) into his repertoire and had among his sidemen such top young musicians as Willie Bobo, Chick Corea (1965), Attila Zoller and Roy Ayers; at the 1972 Newport Festival his sextet included David Newman and Sonny Sharrock. By then Mann had been a producer at Embroyo (a subsidiary of Atlantic) for three years and was frequently stretching his music outside of jazz. As the 1970s advanced, Mann became much more involved in rock, pop, reggae and even disco. After leaving Atlantic at the end of the 1970s, Mann had his own label for awhile and gradually came back to jazz. He recorded for Chesky, made a record with Dave Valentin and in the 1990s founded the Kokopelli label on which before breaking away in 1996 he was free to pursue his wide range of musical interests. Through the years, he recorded as a leader for Bethlehem, Prestige, Epic, Riverside, Savoy, Mode, New Jazz, Chesky, Kokopelli and most significantly Atlantic. He passed away on July 1, 2003, following an extended battle with prostate cancer. His last record was 2004's posthumusly released Beyond Brooklyn for Telarc.

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Herbie Mann Biography 

by Daniel Hodges

Occupation: Flutist 

Personal Information

Born: Herbert Solomon, April 16, 1930, in Brooklyn, NY; son of Harry C. and Ruth (Brecher) Solomon; married Ruth Shore, September 8, 1956 (divorced, 1971); children: Paul, Claudia; married Jan Cloonts, July 11, 1971 (divorced, 1990); children: Laura, Geoffrey; married Susan Jameal Arison, 1991. 

Education

Attended Manhattan School of Music, 1952-1954. 

Career

Began professional career with Mat Matthews Quintet, c. 1953-4; made first recording with Bethelehem Records, 1955; first album to reach pop chart, Live At the Village Gate, 1962; first song to reach Top 30 on pop charts, "Comin' Home Baby"; 25 of Mann's recordings reached Top 200 pop-album charts; has recorded or toured with Michael Olatunji, Chief Bey, Carlos "Patato" Valdes, Willie Bobo, Jose Mangal, Bill Evans, Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock, Sergio Mendes, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Baden Powell, Miroslav Vitous, Ron Carter, Larry Coryell, Sonny Sharrock, Duane Allman, Mick Taylor, Albert Lee, Bruno Carr, Billy Cobham, Jimmy Owens, Roy Ayers, Cissy Houston, Sylvia Shamwell, Eunice Peterson, Ranelle Braxton, Pat Rebillot, Cornell Dupree, Doc Cheatham, Stephane Grappelli, and Ben Tucker. 

Not many musicians can claim to have single-handedly created the style of music for which they are famous. Among the select group who legitimately can is Herbie Mann, a seminal figure in the American jazz scene of the 1960s and '70s. Largely on the strength of his talent for improvisation and willingness to experiment, Mann formulated a jazz style for the flute, raising to the rank of lead an instrument which prior to his arrival had been limited to a minor role in the jazz pantheon. In the process, he was to garner a reputation as one of the most eclectic figures in the music world, readily mixing a wide range of styles from African to Brazilian, from Charlie Parker to disco, to create music that crossed boundaries in every sense of the word. Although his experiments did not always endear him to jazz critics, the result was a musical style that was indisputably his own. 

Mann was born Herbert Solomon on April 16, 1930 in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Harry and Ruth Solomon. Musically inclined from an early age, his first concerts took the form of raucous banging on the kitchen pots and pans. His parents, driven to distraction, decided that young Herbert's energies would be channeled in a more fruitful direction by exposure to popular music; in 1939, his mother took him to see the then-reigning master of swing jazz, clarinetist Benny Goodman. The concert had the desired effect, as Mann, fascinated by the atmosphere and excitement of live performing, left off his drumming and took up the clarinet with enthusiasm. 

Mann's talent for performing was immediately evident to his teachers and he progressed rapidly. As a teenager, he branched out into playing the tenor saxophone, an instrument that would come to dominate the post-World War II American music scene. For good professional measure, he also learned how to play the flute, a instrument used largely in studios as a backing double. Since flute playing was found almost solely on Latin jazz records, Mann gravitated toward listening to the luminaries of the Latin music scene like Tito Puente, Machito, Charlie Palmieri, or American stars who recorded with Latin musicians such as Charlie Parker. 

But the tenor saxophone was Mann's first love, and his guide and inspiration was the dominant figure in the New York jazz scene of the late Forties, Lester Young. As was the case for many other young musicians of his generation, Mann was enthralled by Young's cool, almost low-key, highly melodic approach to rhythm and harmony. Mann carried his passion with him into the U.S. Army, serving overseas from 1948 to 1952, certain that upon returning to civilian life he would make an immediate name for himself as a tenor sax player. But when Mann arrived back in New York, he found that many others had had the same idea and the field was overcrowded with hungry young saxophonists roaming from gig to gig. 

It was at this point that Mann's career took the left turn that would change his and many others' ideas about jazz permanently. In early 1953, a friend of his approached him with the news that a Dutch accordionist, Mat Matthews, was forming a group to record with a then-unknown singer named Carmen McRae, and needed a jazz flute player. Mann convinced the friend to put his name forward, even though Mann knew next to nothing about jazz flute playing--a style which had virtually no precedents in the American music scene up until then. In a neat bit of chicanery, in person Mann convinced Matthews to take him on, explaining that his flute was being repaired and he would learn the arrangements on the saxophone. By drawing on Latin music he had absorbed earlier, as well as imitating on the flute the mannerisms of such up-and-coming trumpet players such as Miles Davis and Dizzy Gillespie, Mann quickly improvised a playing style that would give him a distinct stage presence. 

Following a two-year stint with Matthews, Mann's career slowly took off. Over the course of the 1950s, he passed through a succession of groups, recording extensively as a sideman while enlarging and embellishing his creative mastery of the flute. Just as his style had originally developed out of Latin jazz, he found himself more and more drawn to that idiom's percussive rhythms and raw emotive power, tendencies running counter to the prevailing trend in jazz of the time toward intellectualized, distant compositions. As he explained in a 1973 New York Times interview, "The audience I developed wasn't listening intellectually; they were listening emotionally." Eager to tap into this current, Mann formed an Afro-Cuban sextet in 1958 that featured, among other developments, four drummers backing him. For the next several years, a steady parade of some of the best drummers of the era, such as Candido, Willie Bobo, Carlos "Patato" Valdes, and the Nigerian phenomenon Michael Olatunji, would pass through Mann's group. 

With this innovative new sound, Mann began to make a name for himself in the jazz world. His percussion-heavy ensembles, apart from the audience excitement they generated, also proved to be an excellent counterpoint to his flute, the drums creating a wall of background noise against which his solos stood out in sharp relief. It didn't hurt that he was performing in a style that was totally new to most of his listeners; as Mann put it in a Down Beat interview, "... there wasn't really anybody for the people to compare me to... anytime I'd run out of ideas, the drums got it." After recording several albums for Verve Records, Mann signed with a major label, Atlantic, releasing his first album, Common Ground, with them in 1960. In 1962, his live album Herbie Mann at the Village Gate was his first major hit, selling over half a million copies; a song from that release, "Comin' Home Baby," would place in the Top 30 on the pop charts. 

In spite of success that most musicians would envy, Mann was still not completely satisfied. Latin music with its dominant two-chord harmonies proved monotonous and ultimately constricting; he wanted a style that would allow him to explore a wider range of melodic possibilities. In 1961, he became interested in bossa nova--a musical phenomenon then little known outside of its native Brazil--after seeing the movie Black Orpheus. His curiosity aroused, Mann persuaded his manager to include him in an all-star tour heading down to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil's cultural center, and began jamming with local musicians almost from the moment he stepped off the plane. In this and subsequent tours, he would come in contact with some of the giants of Brazilian music, including Sergio Mendes, Baden Powell, and Antonio Carlos Jobim. 

Brazilian music, with its combination of pulsing rhythms and beautiful, varied melodies and harmonies, was a revelation for Mann. Here was the style he was looking for that would allow his solos to soar through elaborate ranges of melody backed by multiple rhythm parts. On his return to the United States, his band became one of the first groups to play bossa nova and went on to record a number of albums with Brazilian musicians. One of these included an English version of the famed hit "One Note Samba," featuring the singing debut of the tune's composer, Jobim. Brazilian music, although not as commercially successful as some of the other musical idioms Mann would work in, remained an undercurrent to which he returned throughout the rest of his career; one of his most recent albums Opalescence, recorded in 1988, is a lyrical and evocative revisiting of contemporary Brazilian music. 

Perhaps as important in terms of Mann's artistic horizons, his plunge into bossa nova seemed to have liberated him from the necessity of being associated with one specific "sound." From the early Sixties on, he would explore a wide variety of musical styles, grafting elements of Middle Eastern, pop, rock, R&B, reggae, soul, and disco music onto jazz to reach a wide audience. Although this approach did not please jazz critics, who often dismissed his work as lacking substance, Mann would string together a spectacular run of commercial successes. In the period 1962-1979, 25 of his recordings placed on the Top 200 pop charts; in 1970 alone, five of the 20 top-selling jazz albums bore the name Herbie Mann on the cover, an unprecedented convergence of hits for a jazz artist. 

After bossa nova, the next style Mann gravitated toward was rhythm and blues. Fascinated by its improvisational possibilities, he went south to record in Memphis, Tennessee and Muscle Shoals, Alabama, exchanging ideas with and drawing inspiration from some of the greatest R&B studio musicians of the time. The result was Memphis Underground, a 1969 album that was to prove his second great hit of the decade. In 1971, Mann recorded another hit, Push Push, with guitarist Duane Allman, who, as was often the case for Mann, he had met during an impromptu jam in New York's Central Park. Mann's approach to recording and performing in this period was highly eclectic; he would throw together as many musicians with different backgrounds as possible in the hope that something interesting would emerge. At times the result, as one critic writing in Down Beat noted, was a jumble of sound that "looked like fun to do, but wasn't very pleasant to listen to." 

In 1972, Mann stabilized his musical entourage by forming the group the Family of Mann, based around David Newman on tenor sax and flute, Pat Rebillot on keyboards, and a floating lineup of New York session players. Although in the first half of the decade he continued to explore jazz/rock fusion and dabbled in reggae, the burgeoning dance craze inevitably began to impact Mann's career. In 1974, his disco single "Hi-Jack," recorded with Cissy Houston and released 24 hours later, was a massive hit. Pressured by profit-minded executives at Atlantic to keep up the winning formula, Mann was deprived of his cherished freedom to experiment and found himself compelled to release records in a style he found more and more distasteful. As the decade progressed, he grew so disenchanted with the direction his career was taking that he began to preface concert appearances with the announcement that he would not be playing any of his disco hits. Finally in 1980, Atlantic and Mann went their separate ways, ending an almost twenty-year association. 

In the 1980s, Mann entered something of a lean period. While he still toured and played clubs such as the Blue Note in New York City, his recording output, enormous in the prior two decades, withered away to virtually nothing and he disappeared from the position of public prominence he had enjoyed since the late Fifties. His fortunes rebounded in 1991, however, when he founded Kokopelli Records, a small independent jazz label of the sort with which he had always wanted to record. The company is based in Mann's hometown of Santa Fe, New Mexico. As of the mid-1990s, he was continuing to perform and record, while working full-time overseeing the production of jazz albums by such artists as David "Fathead" Newman and Jimmy Rowles. The release by Rhino Records in 1994 of an anthology of his recorded work, The Evolution of Mann, has brought the flutist some measure of the attention his work merits. 

Herbie Mann's career does not lend itself to easy characterization. His most popular recordings, as critics were quick to point out, were often imbued with a heavy commercial sound bordering on the formulaic. At the same time, though, his recorded work speaks volumes about his ability to merge widely-varying forms into a coherent and appealing style that was accessible to the average listener. Mann could also be described as one of the first "world" musicians; his sensitivity for non-Western musical forms, evidenced by his ability to integrate them into work that could be easily appreciated by a largely Western audience while still retaining the essential characteristics of its origin, has few parallels among the other musicians of his generation. In the final assessment, however, Mann's impact on jazz music does not need to be evoked in words; it can be heard issuing from clubs across North America and the world in musical form, the form that Herbie Mann created, a soaring flute solo floating above the low grind of the drums and the hum of the bass. 

Sources:

Down Beat, November 28, 1969; April 30, 1970; December 10, 1970; December 1980; January 1995. High Fidelity, April 1989. Houston Chronicle, April 23, 1995. Jazz Times, January/February 1995. New York Times, November 11, 1973. Stereo Review, April 1988. Additional source material was obtained from Kokopelli Records press release, 1995, Atlantic Records press release, 1975, and from Rhino Records liner notes for The Evolution of Mann, 1994. ~~ --Daniel Hodge

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Herbie Mann

AKA Herbert Jay Solomon

Born: 16-Apr-1930
Birthplace: Brooklyn, NY
Died: 1-Jul-2003
Location of death: Pecos, NM
Cause of death: Cancer - Prostate

Gender: Male
Religion: Jewish
Race or Ethnicity: White
Sexual orientation: Straight
Occupation: Jazz Musician

Nationality: United States
Executive summary: Jazz flautist

Military service: US Army (1948-1952)

Almost single-handedly responsible for establishing the flute as a lead instrument in the field of jazz, Herbie Mann's original instrument was the clarinet, taken up in 1939 after seeing a concert by Benny Goodman and his orchestra. His musical abilities developed quickly, and while still only a teenager he extended his mastery to include both tenor sax and flute. After enlisting in the Army, Mann spent four years stationed in Italy playing with a military band; during this period his focus remained on tenor sax, but by the time of his discharge and return to New York, he began to recognize that the field for that particular instrument was getting overcrowded. An opening for a jazz flautist in 1953 presented a new direction for him to take, and with Mann largely having to invent a new playing style from scratch, the stage was set for his rise to fame.

The remainder of the 1950s saw Mann working with a wide variety of bands, constantly refining his distinctive approach to the flute. In 1958 he formed a sextet that drew heavily on Cuban and African rhythms, with whom he toured across the world for several years and recorded a series of well-received albums for the Verve and (later) Atlantic labels. Desiring to move into areas of greater complexity, Mann joined a tour traveling to Brazil in 1961; the trip would prove to be the most significant experience in his musical development. He returned to Brazil almost immediately after the tour and began recording with many of the leading names in the emerging Bossa Nova scene.

In the years to follow, Mann roamed between different genres of music constantly. His Brazilian period was followed by an exploration of Rhythm and Blues, a series of recordings being made in Tennessee and Alabama with leading R&B session players beginning in 1969. A collaboration with guitarist Duane Allman subsequently materialized in 1971, resulting in the popular song Push Push. In 1972 he created the band The Family of Mann, using it as the foundation for his work in the jazz-fusion territory that was growing in popularity at the time, in addition to making some ventures into reggae. His most commercially successful period arrived next, with a move into disco heralded by the single Hi-Jack. By the end of the decade this success would turn into a straitjacket, with Atlantic pressuring him to cease his genre-hopping and concentrate on churning out the disco hits; by 1980 Mann had had enough, and terminated his 20-year association with the label.

The 1980s saw very little recorded output from Mann, although he did continue to perform with regularity and briefly ran the independent label Herbie Mann Music. In 1991 he formed Kokopelli Music (later expanded into Kokopelli Records) in order to release once again the music that truly interested him, and through this outlet produced more than a dozen albums over the next three years. A diagnosis of prostate cancer in 1997 failed to stall his renewed activity, and until his death in 2003 he remained active with Sona Tera, a group he formed in 1998 to explore the music of his Eastern European roots.

Father: Harry C. Solomon
Mother: Ruth Brecher
Sister: Judy Bernstein
Wife: Ruth Shore (m. 1956, div. 1971)
Son: Paul
Daughter: Claudia Mann-Basler
Wife: Jan Cloonts (m. 1971, div. 1990)
Daughter: Laura Mann
Son: Geoffrey (musician)
Wife: Susan Jameal Arison (actress/writer, m. 1991)
University: Manhattan School of Music, Manhattan, NY (1952-54)

Source: http://www.nndb.com/people/834/000047693/

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Partial discography

1957 - Flute Fraternity
1959 - Flautista: Herbie Mann plays Afro-Cuban jazz! Verve Records
1959 - African Suite
1961 - Herbie Mann At the Village Gate (live)
1961 - Nirvana
1962 - Brazil Bossa Nova & Blues
1963 - Do the Bossa Nova - with Castro Neves, Baden Powell and Antonio Carlos Jobim
1963 - Returns to the Village Gate - Mann plays a variety of oriental flutes, group includes bowed bass by Nabil Totah
1965 - Herbie Mann & João Gilberto with Antonio Carlos Jobim Mann plays on some tracks including a version of One Note Samba with Jobim on piano, and some duets with guitarist Baden Powell.
1965 - My Kinda Groove
1965 - Latin Mann with pianist Chick Corea
1966 - Impressions of the Middle East -
1965 - Standing Ovation at Newport with Corea
1965 - The Roar of the Greasepaint, the Smell of the Crowd - with Corea
1966 - "Monday Night at the Village Gate - bigger group including Corea and lots of brass. This album is now part of the Returns to the Village gate CD
1967 - The Wailing Dervishes
1967 - A Mann & A Woman (with Tamiko Jones)
1967 - Glory Of Love
1969 - Memphis Underground produced by Tom Dowd, musicians include Larry Coryell - Atlantic Records
1970 - Stone Flute
1970 - Muscle Shoals Nitty Gritty - jazz/r'n'b with Roy Ayers, Miroslav Vitousand the Muscle Shoals rhythm section
1971 - Memphis Two Step
1971 - Push Push - with Duane Allman
1973 - Turtle Bay
1974 - London Underground - recorded in London - Atlantic Records
1974 - Reggae recorded in London with Mick Taylor and Albert Lee
1975 - Discotheque - with vocals by Cissy Houston, contains the Top 20 hit "Hijack"
1975 - Waterbed - with Houston
1976 - Surprises - with Houston
1977 - Fire Island with vocalist Googie Coppola
1977 - The Atlantic Family Live in Montreaux
1978 - Brazil: Once Again
1978 - Super Mann
1979 - Sunbelt
Deep Pocket
1987 - Jasil Brazz
1989 - Opalescence
1997 - Peace Pieces
Celebration
1997 - America Brazil
Sona Terra
2000 - Eastern European Roots

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LEE RITENOUR

Lee Ritenour's current biography

Growing up in L.A. in the 60's, Grammy award winning guitarist Lee Ritenour received a rich cross section of exposure to jazz, rock and Brazilian music. From one of his first sessions at 16 with the Mamas and Papas to accompanying Lena Horne and Tony Bennett at 18, his forty year eclectic and storied career is highlighted by a Grammy Award win for his 1986 collaboration with Dave Grusin, Harlequin; 17 Grammy nominations; numerous #1 spots in guitar polls and the prestigious "Alumnus of the Year" award from USC. He has recorded over 40 albums, with 35 chart songs, notably the Top 15 hit "Is It You," which has become a contemporary jazz radio classic. In the 90s, Ritenour was a founding member of Fourplay, the most successful band in contemporary jazz, with keyboardist Bob James, bassist Nathan East and drummer Harvey Mason. The first Fourplay album in 1991 spent an unprecedented 33 weeks at No. 1 on Billboard's contemporary jazz chart. Adding to this legacy is his latest CD Smoke ‘n' Mirrors; the recently completed Grammy nominated recording Amparo, (a follow-up with Dave Grusin to their highly-successful 2001 Grammy Award nominated contemporary classical crossover CD) and producer of Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band's latest CD Act Your Age (which is nominated for 3 Grammys. 

It's been a long road since the seventies, when Ritenour's legendary Tuesday night appearances at the famed Baked Potato, with a band including Dave Grusin, Patrice Rushen, Harvey Mason and Ernie Watts became part of the musical landscape for five years. Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, George Benson, Al Jarreau, Joe Sample, and even Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell could be seen in the audiences that would pack the house till the wee hours of the morning. From rock to blues to jazz, his diverse music became the foundation of over 3,000 sessions as a young guitarist with a broad spectrum of artists such as Pink Floyd (The Wall), Steely Dan (Aja), Dizzy Gillespie, Sonny Rollins, Joe Henderson, B.B. King, Frank Sinatra, Simon & Garfunkel, Ray Charles, Peggy Lee, Aretha Franklin and Barbra Streisand. Not to forget the dazzling array of talent appearing on his solo works and collaborations, notably-- Phil Collins, Brazilian greats Ivan Lins, Caetano Veloso, Djavan and Jao Bosco, George Benson, Chaka Kahn, Herbie Hancock, Michael McDonald and opera great Renee Fleming.

Source: http://www.leeritenour.com/biography

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Lee Mack "Captain Fingers" Ritenour (born January 11, 1952) is an internationally acclaimed guitarist, recording artist, composer and producer. He began his career at 16 as a session player. He has appeared on over 3000 sessions & recorded 40 solo and collaboration albums. He had a world wide hit with "Is It You" in 1981. 

Ritenour holds the distinction of having two of the promotional videos for his songs ("Is It You," and "Mr. Briefcase") being played during MTV's first day. His music is influenced by Wes Montgomery. He has paid frequent tributes to his hero, including naming his son Wesley when he was born in 1993.

Biography 

Ritenour was born January 11, 1952 in Los Angeles, California. He played his first session when he was 16 with the Mamas and the Papas. Nicknamed "Captain Fingers", he was a sought-after session guitarist by the mid-1970s and won Guitar Player Magazines Best Studio Guitarist twice in the 70's. He is noted for playing his red Gibson ES-335 and his Gibson L5 guitars. One of his most notable influences is the pioneering jazz guitarist Wes Montgomery. In 1976, he released his first solo album, First Course. This was followed up by his fusion work Captain Fingers in 1976. Since First Course he has released over 30 albums — the 30th being Rit's House in 2002. One of his most notable works is his pop album (featuring vocalist Eric Tagg) 1981 Rit, which contained chart hits "Is It You," and "Mr. Briefcase." In the '90s, he was one of the founding members of group Fourplay. He was nominated for 17 Grammy Awards, won one, plus landing at the top of many guitar polls throughout the world. 

Throughout his career, Ritenour has experimented with different styles of music. He has often incorporated elements of funk, pop, rock, blues and Brazilian music with jazz.In the early 1980s, Ritenour was given his own Ibanez signature model guitar, the LR-10. The LR-10 was produced from 1981 to 1987. It can be heard exclusively on his album Rit. Currently, Ritenour plays the Gibsons that he first played in the 1970s (the ES-335 and L5), and now also plays his signature Lee Ritenour Model archtop guitar made by Gibson.

Lee Mack "Captain Fingers" Ritenour (born January 11, 1952) is an internationally acclaimed guitarist, recording artist, composer and producer. He began his career at 16 as a session player. He has appeared on over 3000 sessions & recorded 40 solo and collaboration albums. He had a world wide hit with "Is It You" in 1981.

Ritenour holds the distinction of having two of the promotional videos for his songs ("Is It You," and "Mr. Briefcase") being played during MTV's first day. His music is influenced by Wes Montgomery. He has paid frequent tributes to his hero, including naming his son Wesley when he was born in 1993.

Biography

Ritenour was born January 11, 1952 in Los Angeles, California. He played his first session when he was 16 with the Mamas and the Papas. Nicknamed "Captain Fingers", he was a sought-after session guitarist by the mid-1970s and won Guitar Player Magazines Best Studio Guitarist twice in the 70's. He is noted for playing his red Gibson ES-335 and his Gibson L5 guitars. One of his most notable influences is the pioneering jazz guitarist Wes Montgomery. In 1976, he released his first solo album, First Course. This was followed up by his fusion work Captain Fingers in 1976. Since First Course he has released over 30 albums — the 30th being Rit's House in 2002. One of his most notable works is his pop album (featuring vocalist Eric Tagg) 1981 Rit, which contained chart hits "Is It You," and "Mr. Briefcase." In the '90s, he was one of the founding members of group Fourplay. He was nominated for 17 Grammy Awards, won one, plus landing at the top of many guitar polls throughout the world.

Throughout his career, Ritenour has experimented with different styles of music. He has often incorporated elements of funk, pop, rock, blues and Brazilian music with jazz.In the early 1980s, Ritenour was given his own Ibanez signature model guitar, the LR-10. The LR-10 was produced from 1981 to 1987. It can be heard exclusively on his album Rit. Currently, Ritenour plays the Gibsons that he first played in the 1970s (the ES-335 and L5), and now also plays his signature Lee Ritenour Model archtop guitar made by Gibson.

Style

Ritenour has always experimented with different genres, and has always had a very strong commercial sense. His solo career began in 1975 with the recording of his album First Course. Released in 1976, the album gave a strong representation of the mid-1970s L.A. Jazz/Funk sound. Critics did, however, complain that his first album was "lightweight." So Lee countered this with his strongly fusion-based follow up, Captain Fingers. This was followed by two more fusion efforts—The Captain's Journey (1978) and Feel The Night (1979). On these albums, Ritenour primarily used something of a rich, yet rock-oriented distorted guitar sound, coming from his Gibson ES-335 guitar. In other instances on these albums, clean sounds were heard coming from his Gibson L5 and classical acoustic guitars (he played his classical acoustic guitars almost exclusively on his album Rio in 1979). In the 1970s, Ritenour would often use effects like wah-wah, phasers, chorus, and flangers on his electric instruments. Also, during the late 1970s, Ritenour can be heard using the 360 Systems guitar synthesizer (he is pictured sitting in front of it on the back cover of his Captain Fingers album). He can be heard using the synthesizer on the track Captain Fingers (from the album with the same title), and can also be heard playing solo with the synthesizer on the song "What Do You Want?" from "The Captain's Journey."

In 1979, Ritenour played on Pink Floyd's The Wall, contributing rhythm guitar to "One of My Turns" and acoustic guitar to "Comfortably Numb".

As the 1980s began, Ritenour began to add stronger elements of pop to his music, beginning with Rit in 1981. For this, he kept with his distorted sound, now using his Ibanez LR-10 signature model guitar. He continued with the pop-oriented music for two albums after Rit (Rit/2 in 1982 and Banded Together in 1984), while releasing a slick, yet more fusion-styled, Direct-Disk instrumental album in 1983 called On The Line. He also provided rhythm guitar on Tom Browne's hit, Funkin' for Jamaica.

In 1985, he recorded his first album for GRP with Dave Grusin, entitled Harlequin. It featured Lee primarily on his classical acoustic guitar and also featured Brazilian singer/songwriter Ivan Lins. Up to this point, this album along with Rio arguably gave the strongest representation of Lee's Brazilian influences.

The following year, 1986, Ritenour released the album Earth Run, which featured him using the then-newly designed SynthAxe guitar. He used nine different guitars on the album, most notably the SynthAxe, his Valley Arts guitar, and his Gibson Chet Atkins acoustic. The album also featured long-time collaborator Phil Perry for the first time, on the track "If I'm Dreaming, Don't Wake Me" — a song also featuring David Foster and Maurice White. He also produced songs and played guitar on Deniece Williams's LP Hot on the Trail during that same year.

Ritenour continued in a direction strongly featuring other artists in 1987, with Portrait. The album itself has something of a strong smooth-jazz sound, and Ritenour can be heard here playing with The Yellowjackets, Djavan, and much to the shock of some, Kenny G.

In 1988, his smooth jazz-influenced Brazilian music came to the forefront with Festival — another album strongly featuring his work on nylon-string acoustic guitars. The following album, Color Rit, continued with a similar mood. He did however, change direction completely again with his straight-ahead jazz album Stolen Moments. Sounding similar to Wes Montgomery, Ritenour played alongside long-time collaborator, saxophonist Ernie Watts, pianist Alan Broadbent, bassist John Patitucci (playing only acoustic) and drummer Harvey Mason. Continuing in a Wes Montgomery mood, Ritenour paid tribute to the man himself in 1992, with his album Wes Bound. The album featured a number of covers of Montgomery compositions, as well as some seemingly tributary pieces from Ritenour himself.

Also seen in this decade was a 1994 collaboration album with guitarist Larry Carlton called Larry & Lee.

Lee Ritenour formed Fourplay together with keyboard player, Bob James. Whilst playing primarily with smooth jazz group Fourplay for much of the 1990s, Lee left the group in 1998 and continued with his solo works. He was replaced in the group by Larry Carlton.

2002 saw the release of his album, Rit's House.

In February 2004, Ritenour completed a project looking back on his career involving musicians he has worked with throughout his career called Overtime. Overtime was recorded live in a studio in front of a small audience. It was released in early 2005, and is currently available as a singular audio CD, double-DVD set or singular HD DVD. Some of the musicians featured include Dave Grusin, Patrice Rushen, Harvey Mason, Alex Acuna, Chris Botti, Anthony Jackson, Melvin Lee Davis, and Ernie Watts, amongst many others.

His latest album, entitled Smoke n' Mirrors was released in late August 2006. His son Wesley is a drummer, and makes his debut appearance on the album at the age of 13. This album contains Ritenour's version of Bill Withers' 1978 hit "Lovely Day".

Discography

AlbumsTitle Release Remarks
First Course 1976 Epic 
Lee Ritnour and His Gentle Thoughts 1977 JVC 
Captain Fingers 1977 Epic 
Sugar Loaf Express (with Eric Gale) 1977 JVC 
Friendship (Different from 1979 release) 1978 JVC 
The Captain's Journey 1978 Elektra Records 
Rio 1979 GRP 
Feel the Night 1979 Elektra/Discovery 
Friendship (Currently reissued with The Captain’s Journey on Wounded Bird Records) 1979 JVC 
The Best of Lee Ritenour 1980 Epic 
Rit 1981 Elektra/Discovery 
Rit, Vol. 2 1982 Musicraft 
On the Line (This version differs in some takes to the 1985 GRP Release, and is available reissued with Rio on Wounded Bird Records) 1983 Elektra/Musician 
Banded Together 1984 Elektra/Discovery 
Harlequin (w/Dave Grusin) 1985 GRP 
Earth Run 1986 GRP 
Portrait 1987 GRP 
Festival 1988 GRP 
Color Rit 1989/1990 GRP 
Stolen Moments 1990 GRP 
Collection 1991 GRP 
Wes Bound 1992 GRP 
Larry & Lee (with Larry Carlton) 1995 GRP 
Alive in L.A. 1997 GRP 
This Is Love 1998 i.e. Music/Polygram 
Rit's House 2002 Verve 
Friendship/The Captain's Journey (Reissue) 2005 Wounded Bird 
Rio/On the Line (Reissue) 2005 Wounded Bird 
Overtime 2005 Peak 
World of Brazil 2005 GRP                                                                                                                       Smoke n’ Mirrors 2006 Peak

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Ritenour was born January 11, 1952 in Los Angeles, California. He played his first session when he was 16 with the Mamas and the Papas. Nicknamed “Captain Fingers”, he (along with Larry Carlton) was a sought-after session guitarist by the mid-1970s. He is noted for playing his red Gibson ES-335 and his Gibson L5 guitars. One of his most notable influences is the pioneering jazz guitarist Wes Montgomery. In 1976, he released his first solo album, First Course. This was followed up by his fusion work Captain Fingers in 1976. Since First Course he has released over 30 albums — the 30th being Rit’s House in 2002. One of his most notable works is his pop album (featuring vocalist Eric Tagg) 1981 Rit, which contained chart hits “Is It You,” and “Mr. Briefcase.” In the 90s, he was one of the founding members of smooth jazz group Fourplay.

Source: http://www.last.fm/music/Lee+Ritenour

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True to its intriguing and provocative title, Lee Ritenour's latest CD Smoke N' Mirrors takes listeners on a magical, multi-faceted global journey unlike any other in the legendary guitarist's three decade, nearly 40 album career. Inspired by his very first trip to South Africa in 2005, where he performed five hugely successful concerts at festivals in Johannesburg and Capetown, with Smoke N' Mirrors, Ritenour takes an expansive, polyrhythmic approach, working with musicians from South Africa, Cameroon-West Africa, Brazil, Columbia, Peru and India. Also joining him on this recording is an exciting mix of old friends who happen to be some of America's top jazz performers. Among those featured are pianists Dave Grusin and Patrice Rushen; drummer Vinnie Colaiuta; along with bassists John Patitiucci, Brian Bromberg, Abraham Laboriel and Richard Bona. There are eight percussionists on the record including Sheila E., Alex Acuna and Paulinho Da Costa and on tables is Satnam Ramgotra from India. Ever the innovator, Ritenour employs a total of 12 guitars, his most ever, to achieve what can only be described as sonic perfection. These include the Gibson Lee Ritenour Model and a wide variety of baritone, steel and high string guitars. 

Smoke N' Mirrors also marks the American recording debut of South African singing sensation Zamajobe on three songs as well as the composing and recording debut of Ritenour's thirteen- year-old son Wesley, a highly talented drummer. Wes adds brushes to Zamajobe's original song, the exotic call and response anthem "Memeza," and also composed the graceful melody of the soulful and atmospheric "Stone Cool."

"The concept for the album came from a lot of different sources, all of which coalesced with my trip to South Africa," Ritenour says. "I'd been getting letters for years asking me to come and perform there. I did a lot of touring throughout the U.S., Asia and Europe during 2005, and everything timed nicely for me to play in Capetown and Johannesburg in late August after my Western European dates. While the festivals there included some American acts, I was more excited by the native African players and some of the most intoxicating percussion and rhythm guitar playing I'd ever heard. Over the years, I have become more and more attracted to African music, and this trip solidified that connection for me."

Ritenour's title Smoke N' Mirrors has a subtle political connotation, but on the creative side, it refers to some incredibly magical, serendipitous moments that occurred during the conception and recording process. The guitarist "discovered" the singer Zamajobe -- a recent South African New Artist of the Year winner who had just released her hit debut album in that country -- one restless night while watching TV in Capetown,. He saw several of her videos on South Africa's version of MTV and loved her voice, especially the difference when she sang English (with almost a Sade like quality) to when she performed in her native African language. Back in L.A., Rit contacted her label Sony BMG and soon was talking via email and phone to her guitar player and producer Eric Pilani. Through the magic of high speed internet and back and forth MP3 files, Rit was able to get her sensuous vocals on an Africanized version of Bill Withers' "Lovely Day" and an old school soul jazz take on Patrice Rushen's "Forget Me Nots" (which also features Rushen on vocals, Fender Rhodes and organ). Smoke N' Mirrors also features Zamajobe's original song "Memeza," a shorter version of which appeared on her own album. 

Another unexpected hookup happened with singer/songwriter Daniel Jobim, grandson of Brazilian legend Antonio Carlos Jobim, whom Ritenour hadn't seen to in years. Rit had been looking for an original, authentic Brazilian tune for the project when he ran into Jobim by chance in L.A. The multi-talented performer sent Rit an MP3 file of the ultra-romantic "Blue Days (Dias Azuis"). Lee loved the tune and kept Jobim's original lead vocal on the final track. The song also includes additional lead vocals by Brazilian singing sensation Joyce, Rit on acoustic guitar, Grusin on piano, Patitucci on acoustic bass and Danilo Caymmi's tender flute. Other key tracks on the CD include: the hypnotic title track; a revisit of Grusin's Brazilian flavored 1989 song "Southwest Passage;" the spirited, guitar-driven songs "Capetown" and the "Township," "Water's Edge," which displays Ritenour's genius for masterful fingerstyling; "Spellbinder," featuring Bromberg's grooving bass and Indian born tabla master Satnam Ramgotra; and the electric rock-flavored "Motherland."

Growing up in L.A. in the '60s, Ritenour received a rich cross section of exposure to jazz, rock and Brazilian music -- with artists like Wes Montgomery, Joe Pass, Kenny Burrell, The Byrds, Jimi Hendrix, Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, and Jobim, Astrud Gilberto, Sergio Mendes and Stan Getz, who helped introduce Brazilian music to the masses. Highlighting his eclectic and storied career is a rich history in the Brazilian realm which includes a Grammy win for Harlequin, his 1986 collaboration with Grusin (also voted by Jazziz Magazine as one of the Top Ten contemporary jazz albums of all time), producing the 1997 all-star project A Twist of Jobim, and the memorial tribute concert to Antonio Carlos Jobim at Lincoln Center, starring Sting, Herbie Hancock, Joao Gilberto and Caetano Veloso., among others.

Along with his emergence as a solo artist with his Epic albums First Course and Captain Fingers in the mid '70s, Ritenour's sideman days are the stuff of musical industry lore. His nearly 2,000 recordings include artists ranging from Paul Simon, Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder and Steely Dan to Herbie Hancock and Pink Floyd's The Wall. It was during that time he began his longtime association with Dave Grusin on soundtracks and other recordings, which reached a crescendo on Harlequin. In addition to the Grammy win for Harlequin, he has earned 17 Grammy nominations, numerous #1 spots in guitar polls and the prestigious "Alumnus of the Year" award from USC. Since the '70s, he has also been a huge presence in radio. In 1981, he scored the Top 15 hit "Is It You," featuring vocalist Eric Tagg, which has become a smooth jazz radio classic. His singles "Water to Drink" from 1997's Twist of Jobim and "Get Up Stand Up," from 2001's A Twist of Marley were both named #1 Radio & Records NAC airplay singles of their respective years. 

In the '90s, he was a founding member of Fourplay, the most successful band in contemporary jazz, with keyboardist Bob James, bassist Nathan East and drummer Harvey Mason. The first Fourplay album in 1991 spent an unprecedented 33 weeks at No. 1 on Billboard's contemporary jazz chart. In addition to producing his own recordings, Ritenour has produced the three highly successful Twist Of projects along with such artists as Eric Marienthal, Phil Perry and Vesta, which were released on his i.e. music label.

"While I have loved working on every album I've done throughout my career," he says, "there were all these magical things that happened along the way on Smoke N' Mirrors. Because of its scope, all of the musicians involved in the process, and the many guitar textures I chose to incorporate, the project took a total of eight months to complete. I was excited every step of the way by each aspect of the creative process, from composing and arranging, to recording and mixing. After producing well over 30 albums, I can tell when I'm onto something that will have enduring value and I can honestly say that on every level, Smoke N' Mirrors has been an extraordinary experience!"

Lee Ritenour All Music Guide Biography

Lee Ritenour has long been the perfect studio musician, one who can melt into the background without making any impact. While he possesses impressive technique, Ritenour has mostly played instrumental pop throughout his career, sometimes with a Brazilian flavor. His few jazz efforts have found him essentially imitating Wes Montgomery, but despite that he has been consistently popular since the mid-'70s. After touring with Sergio Mendes' Brasil '77 in 1973, Ritenour became a very busy studio guitarist in Los Angeles, taking time off for occasional tours with his groups and in the mid-'90s with Bob James in Fourplay. He also recorded many albums as a leader including Portraits (1987), Wes Bound (1992), Larry & Lee with Larry Carlton (1994), This is Love (1997), Overtime (2005) and Smoke 'N' Mirrors (2006).

~ Scott Yanow, All Music Guide

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SPECIAL EFX

Combining Latin and African rhythms with the light textures of MOR jazz, Special EFX emerged as one of the most prominent world fusion groups of their era. Formed in New York in 1982, Special EFX was essentially a duo comprised of guitarist Chieli Minucci and Hungarian-born drummer/percussionist George Jinda; debuting in 1985 with the album Modern Manners, they often recruited other musicians to help flesh out their state-of-the-art sound, among them Dave Grusin, Omar Hakim, and McCoy Tyner. Long favoring an accessible and slick jazz-pop sound, the duo significantly altered their identity with 1990's Just Like Magic, adopting a more acoustic texture and exchanging Jinda's electronic percussion for what he dubbed "wooden world music." After 1995's Body Language, Minucci and Jinda split, with the latter continuing to work under the Special EFX name; in early 1997, however, tragedy struck when Jinda -- having recently completed the album Here to Stay -- suffered a massive stroke, subsequently lapsing into a coma. After several years of very poor health, Jinda passed away in New York on January 11, 2001

Formed: 1982

Disbanded: 1995

Genre: Jazz

Styles: Crossover Jazz, Smooth Jazz, World/Ethnic Fusion, New Age, World

Group Members: George Jinda, Chieli Minucci

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The story of Special EFX goes back to 1982, a time that pre-dates so-called smooth jazz radio. Their story begins with founding members guitarist Chieli Minucci and percussionist George Jinda. Although a seemingly unlikely pair -- Minucci hailing from New York and coming up playing in pop and r&b bands, Jinda gaining his first musical experiences as a jazz drummer in his native Hungary -- the two forged a chemistry both on stage and in the studio that was immediate and lasting. While the two began eventually recording their own projects apart from Special EFX, after 13 albums -- Jinda under the banner of World News, Minucci as a leader in his own right -- that initial chemistry had remained intact. Cruel fate intervened in 1998 when Jinda was struck down by a life-threatening asthma attack which temporarily left him in a coma, necessitating the cancellation of a tour. He now suffers from myoclonic disorder, a neurological condition that has left him bedridden and severely compromised his ability to talk or even move his fingers. And yet, Special EFX lives on through Chieli's contributions -- and with George's whole-hearted blessings.

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