By Michael Fagien
In our second year, circa 1985, JAZZIZ ran a cover story on Lee Ritenour who was at the time releasing a few of his Japanese recordings in the U.S. on Bruce Lundvall’s short-lived and eclectic Elektra/Musician label. A 10-foot replica of the magazine’s cover, featuring a photo of Lee playing his SynthAxe guitar, created a buzz when the instrument’s manufacturer displayed it at that year’s NAMM (National Association of Music Merchandisers) show in Anaheim, catching the attention of an impressive array of guitarists — Alan Holdsworth, David Torn and Christopher Cross among them — and considerably raising our profile.
Ritenour’s early albums introduced me to the guitarist’s regularly featured top-drawer personnel, including Ernie Watts, Anthony Jackson, Harvey Mason and, of course, Dave Grusin, who we featured in the earliest issues of JAZZIZ. Then, seemingly out of left field, Ritenour recorded
Harlequin with Grusin on the newly launched GRP label (co-owned by Grusin and Larry Rosen). This album seemed a bit of a departure for the fusioneer, an album of mostly acoustic Brazilian music featuring a few compositions and vocal cameos from the incomparable Ivan Lins. But die-hard Rit fans knew about his earlier solo Brazilian album
Rio, released in Japan (and later released in the U.S. on Elektra/Musician) and also featuring Grusin on piano. Both albums revealed the longstanding personal and professional relationship between Grusin and Ritenour and each musician’s deep connection to Brazilian music.
Harlequin became a huge hit and it put GRP on the map. Around that time, Lundvall left Elektra to relaunch Blue Note, which saw the end of Elektra/Musician; Ritenour signed with GRP.
The victory of
Harlequin in the ’80s was, in many ways, analogous to Stan Getz and João Gilberto’s
Getz/Gilberto on Verve in the ’60s. Here, Lins offered up some classic Brazilian songs akin to what Antonio Carlos Jobim did for Getz and Gilberto. A few songs from
Harlequin became radio hits, adding a richness to the saccharine smooth-jazz airways.
A decade later, GRP sold to MCA, JAZZIZ sold to Warner and one of GRP’s top executives, Mark Wexler, let go by the new owners, came to visit me in Floridato discuss a partnership. The culmination of that meeting led to the formation of i.e.music, a label in the Verve Group with my new partners Wexler and Ritenour. Our first album on that label was called
A Twist of Jobim, a brainchild of Rit’s with a lot of Grusin mixed in. During our 25-city tour, I got to spend some time on the road with my partners and Dave.
JAZZIZ turned 40 last year, and the partnership of Ritenour and Grusin has come full circle with a new album of Brazilian music that also features Ivan Lins (profiled elsewhere in this issue). There’s so much more I could say about Lee and Dave that would fill more than all the pages of this entire issue. The good news is, you can check out a wonderful documentary on Dave on PBS, and Dave, Lee and I delve deep into our shared history in our podcast together on jazziz.com, leaving enough room in this issue to cover so many other artists who add to the colorful world of Brazilian music.
Hope you enjoy.
