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Lee Mack Ritenour (born January 11, 1952) is an American jazz guitarist, session musician, and composer. Ritenour has contributed to over 3000 sessions, and has charted over 30 contemporary jazz hits since 1976. ==Biography== Ritenour was born January 11, 1952 in Los Angeles. He has maintained a delicate balance between the individual creative vision and the group dynamic, since the beginning of his career. Lee played his first session when he was 16 with the Mamas & the Papas and given the moniker, "Captain Fingers", because of his manual dexterity on the guitar. Ritenour was a sought-after session guitarist by the mid-1970s, and won ''Guitar Player'' magazine's Best Studio Guitarist twice in the 1970s. He is noted for playing his red Gibson ES-335 and his Gibson L5 guitars. Since his early recordings in the 1970s, Lee has held numerous #1 spots on guitar polls, a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Canadian SJ Awards, and a prestigious "Alumnus of the Year" Award from the University of Southern California. He has recorded more than 40 albums that have yielded 35 chart songs. As a young guitarist, he put his combination of diverse musical styles and brilliant technical chops to work on more than 3,000 sessions with a broad spectrum of artists, and was a founding member of Fourplay, which is considered the most successful group in contemporary jazz. His prolific career includes a Grammy Award for the collaborative work ''Harlequin'' (1985), and 19 Grammy nominations. Ritenour also 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. Ritenour has been at the top of many guitar polls throughout the world. As a teenager, Lee studied with the legendary Joe Pass. Among others like Joe Pass, Kenny Burrell and John McLaughlin, one of his most notable influences is the pioneering jazz guitarist Wes Montgomery, who is the namesake of his son and album entitled "Wes Bound." Throughout his career, Ritenour has experimented with different styles of music. A true fusionist, he has often incorporated elements of funk, pop, rock, blues, Brazilian and most recently with ''Amparo'' (2008), classical 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 celebrated five decades as a guitarist in 2010 with the release of ''6 String Theory'', which features Vince Gill, Slash, B.B. King, Joe Bonamassa, Robert Cray, Steve Lukather, Neal Schon, John Scofield, Mike Stern and George Benson. The album also introduced Andy McKee, Joe Robinson and Guthrie Govan. The record was in conjunction with his first multi-national 6 String Theory Competition, sponsored by Yamaha, Berklee College of Music, Montreux Jazz Festival, Blue Note Tokyo, Crown of the Continents Guitar Foundation Workshop and Festival, Monster, Premier Guitar, Jazz Monthly, Music Connection, Concord Records and D'Addario. The mission is to support aspiring musicians across all genres towards a professional music career through scholarships, recording, performing, mentoring and prizes. The winner, a classical guitarist, Shon Boblil from Montreal, received a full 4-year scholarship to Berklee College of Music and graduated in 2014. Because of the mutual interest in supporting the development of the next generation of guitar artists, Crown of the Continents Guitar Foundation hosted the finals of the SST competition in Montana, August 2011 and the final and semi-finals in 2012 with all participants receiving scholarships for the COCGF workshop. The Six String Theory competition, which is now a non profit Organization, continues to grow. In 2012, Lee expanded the competition for Piano, Bass and Drums musicians to complete a full rhythm section. The Grand Prize winners were honored to appear with Lee on his ''Rhythm Sessions'' album, which also features luminaries such as Chick Corea, George Duke, Stanley Clarke, Dave Grusin, Dave Weckl, Vinnie Colaiuta, Marcus Miller and many others. The 4 winners also performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival as the opening concert for Lee's show on July 8, 2014. Additional prizes awarded include: four Berklee College of Music scholarships, Yamaha instruments and endorsements, as well as Crown of the Continent Guitar Foundation Workshop & Festival, Scholarships and more. The winner of the guitar competition, Tony Pusztai of Hungary, will also record a track on Lee’s upcoming album, ''Twist Of Rit'' to be released 2015 by Concord Records. Over the past 5 years, finalists have been from, Brazil, Canada, France, Hungary, Israel, Japan, Macedonia, Northern Ireland, South Africa, Sweden, The Netherlands, Turkey and the United States, The next competition will take place in 2016. Lee has also served several times as the President of the selection committee for the Montreux Jazz Festival International Guitar Competition and most recently was the Musical Director and primary mentor for the Montreux Jazz Festival Academy workshop and gala last November (2014). Lee was also president of Yamaha's Asian Beats 2014 contest which included competing bands from 10 South East Asian groups. Also, in conjunction with Lee’s Six String Theory competition, the Crown of The Continents Guitar Foundation has also established a Wes Montgomery – Lee Ritenour scholarship, to be awarded this year. The winner will be awarded the chance to participate in the week-long Workshop and Festival August 30 – September 6, 2015. The scholarship is valued at $10,000 and includes workshop tuition, a private lesson with Lee Ritenour and other Artists in Residence, participation with Lee Ritenour in his festival performance, nightly festival attendance, travel and all-inclusive accommodations at the Flathead Lake Lodge. “''When I first started this competition it was my hope it would grow to become a valuable entity that would have the support of so many established musicians in mentoring aspiring ones. In five short years we have reached incredible goals and I couldn't be more thrilled and grateful to have so many artists be part of this extraordinary musical process and journey.''" – Lee Ritenour 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Lee Ritenour」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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