Local jazz lovers and musicians who attended the city’s latest edition of the cultural “Salon Series” were in for a real treat when they showed up at Dragonfly Creek Recording studios on Mulholland Highway last Thursday evening. Local jazz great Lee Ritenour did more than just talk about his process; he played three songs on the guitar, along with a bassist and drummer, giving his audience a real up-close-and-personal experience.
Malibu Cultural Arts Commissioner Richard Gibbs (himself a musician, film composer and music producer formerly with Oingo Boingo) introduced Ritenour to the group, explaining that he and Ritenour first met as next-door neighbors on Point Dume when Ritenour happened to be playing live in his garage.
“Only in Malibu would you find someone like Lee Ritenour playing with a garage band!” Gibbs said with a laugh.
Ritenour’s accomplishments over the past several decades include playing over 3,000 studio sessions, starting at the age of 16, with some of the biggest names in the recording industry, including Pink Floyd, Steely Dan, B.B. King, Frank Sinatra, Simon & Garfunkel, Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, and Barbra Streisand.
He won a Grammy Award for his 1986 collaboration with Dave Grusin (the “Harlequin” album), received a total of 17 Grammy nominations, charted almost three dozen hits on contemporary jazz charts, wrote over 250 songs, got an unheard of 40-year recording contract and just finished his 43rd album.
“I think the ‘Salon Series’ is a cool idea,” Ritenour commented. “We have a lot of professional musicians here tonight, and most people in Malibu know someone who is a professional musician.”
Ritenour has lived on Point Dume since 1979 and has a recording studio in Brentwood. An L.A. native, he was raised in Palos Verdes and later studied classical guitar at USC. He began playing around age seven, when his idols were jazz guitarists Barney Kessel and Joe Pass. His father simply looked them up in the local phone book and asked them to give Ritenour some lessons.
“The best players aren’t always the best teachers,” Ritenour said with a laugh. But he was lucky enough to find some teachers who changed his life.
“By the time I was 13, I told my dad I wanted to be a guitarist. In summer, I practiced eight to 11 hours a day and hated school,” Ritenour recalled. He joined various bands, played out as much as possible and did a lot of networking.
Once out of USC, Ritenour was playing about 10 studio sessions per week by age 23, and met his “long-time friend and collaborator Dave Grusin” during that time. He later left session work to start his own recording career.
Ritenour acknowledges that jazz is somewhat of a niche market here in the U.S.
“Jazz in general is much more popular overseas than here,” he said. “The audiences in this country are older, whereas if I do a concert in Seoul (South Korea) with 1,500 people, most will be under the age of 30. We’re doing 22 shows in Europe next month, and have been hitting the road much heavier.”
Times have changed for musicians, and not for the better, Ritenour noted.
“It’s very difficult for most musicians today to make a living … the record business has been decimated and the royalties have gone to nothing,” Ritenour shared. “The last check I got from Spotify (a digital music service) was for $10. If you’re a musician composing for film, TV or games, you might do OK.”
Ritenour’s “Six String Theory Competition,” a nonprofit worldwide biannual competition he started in 2010 for guitar, piano, bass and drum musicians, gives winners the opportunity to play a track on a Ritenour recording, a scholarship, a gig at Blue Note Tokyo and other prizes.
“I decided with all my history and knowledge, it’d be nice to give back. It’s a cool part of what I’m doing these days,” he said.
The “Salon Series” is an ongoing program started by Commissioner Gibbs last year to increase awareness of the world-class talent residing in Malibu. Locals can sign up on the City of Malibu’s website for the series.
“I started the Salon Series to get more people involved in the arts in Malibu, with the end goal of having a Performing Arts Center,” Gibbs said. “It’s modeled after the salons of old, where you’d go into Chopin’s study and he’d tell you about his process. We’ve had many interesting, highly fascinating artists so far in the series — all Malibu residents.”
Fans can see Ritenour perform at the Catalina Jazz Club in L.A. from Jan. 21-23. For info, go to leeritenour.com/calendar.
