Album Review

What we have here ladies and gentlemen is a rather classy collection of guitar songs, from Captain Fingers Lee Ritenour. Class is a word I have often used with Lees recordings (especially 1993s Wes Bound an homage to the late self-taught guitar virtuouso Wes Montgomery).

But this is not your typical Ritenour record. Wearing its heart on its sleeve, Six String Theory is a tribute to the instrument which has kept Mr Ritenour occupied for some fifty years, featuring a collection of players from all over the world, from the worlds of jazz, blues, rock and even classical music. With a player of Lees calibre, youd expect a similarly high standard of musos featured on the album, and you could not be disappointed seeing the likes of: John Scofield, Steve Lukather, George Benson, B.B King, Pat Martino, Harvey Mason, Nathan East, Robert Cray, long-term percussion cohort Paulinho da Costa and even Slash from Guns N Roses.

Lay it Down is the album opener and features Lee alongside groovy guitarist John Scofield, and is perhaps the most typically Lee Ritenour-sounding track of the collection. Keb' Mo' makes a double appearance on the album, with the song Am I Wrong arranged by Lee and later on the B.B. King, Vince Gill and Johnny Lang collaboration Why I Sing the Blues on which Lee also plays.

Track three sees Lee and Pat Martino pay tribute to the late Les Paul who died around this time last year, at the ripe old age of 94. The song is one of a number where Lee plays in one channel and the other guy taking the remaining channel both to good effect. Blues-rocker Joe Bonamassa shares the spotlight with one of my personal faves Robert Cray on the song Give Me One Reason, and works nicely with Joe taking the first third, Robert taking over for the second, and the pair trading licks and lines in the outro.

68 brings forth rockers Steve Lukather, Slash and Journeys Neal Schon in a very nice rock-led fusion instrumental. Steve and Neal also feature in the next track alongside Lee, in the slow-burning rock instrumental In your Dreams.

George Benson takes centre stage for the interlude My One and Only Love and seemingly revives his Brother Jack McDuff era with the song Moon River, featuring Joey DeFrancesco on organ. Young Australias Got Talent 2008 winner Joe Robinson sounds uncannily like fellow compatriot Tommy Emmanuel in his self-penned solo effort Daddy Longlicks (and rather nice it is too!). The Sting/ Dominic Miller number Shape of My Heart (one of my favourite songs by Sting) receives an instrumental reworking by Lee, Steve Lukather and Andy McKee, with Steve playing electric guitar for the choruses and some of the vocal line [watch this space for a review on the forthcoming Domnic Miller album November Ed].

Japanese guitarist and actor Tomoyasu Hotei shares the stage with Lee and Mike Stern for the shuffle Freeway Jam. Fives is English guitarist Guthrie Govans self-penned instrumental, with young Canadian classical guitarist Shon Boublil the winner of Lee Ritenours Six String Theory Competition seeing-out the remainder of the album with his interpretation of Luigi Legnanis Caprices.

As you can probably guess, its quite a diverse selection of songs, but it works mainly due to the many pairings of songs and musicians, Id say. Well worth checking out.