作为一名现代爵士吉他手甚至是Smooth Jazz吉他手,Lee Ritenour可能从来没有放弃自己对爵士音乐的精华"即兴表演"的追求, 也从来没有一心沉迷于商业化的流行音乐中. 融合爵士是Lee Ritenour的老本行, 随时玩玩Stright-ahead或是Smooth应该是蛮容易的, 而他在他的音乐职业道路上还真的就是这样, 有点和Pat Metheny类似, 不过Lee Ritenour相对要保守一些, 主流一些。by Scott YanowLee 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).