Smitty: Yes, and I love her voice. Man, I was gonna ask you about her.
LR: Yeah.
Smitty: I love “Lovely Day.” Man, she’s got some pipes.
LR: Yeah, very sweet sound and very….kind of a very nice groove. When she sings in English, it’s kinda like a hipper Sade and when she sings African it’s got the real juice, so it’s a very nice combination.
Smitty: Very nice combination indeed. Let me just roll off a few of the artists on this project because this is quite impressive. This looks like an awards show lineup.
LR: (Laughs.)
Smitty: There’s Dave Grusin, Melvin Davis, Paulinho da Costa, Patrice Rushen, Sheila E., Vinnie Colaiuta…I mean, I could go on and on here, man, and then a couple of special people here, Daniel Jobim…
LR: Yeah, the grandson of the great Antonio Carlos Jobim, and that was another interesting story because I wanted to include a fresh new Brazilian song and I literally knew Daniel since he was really a kid, and of all the Jobim family since Antonio Jobim died, I think Daniel has carried on that special spark of the Jobim melodies and flavor better than anyone in the family, and Daniel is in his late 20s, early 30s and so talented and yet sort of fresh and modern, and he sent me this new tune that he had written and it turned out to be perfect for the album. And we invited another great Brazilian artist named Joyce to sing the female part on the song, and then we combined that with a track with Dave Grusin and Jon Patitucci and Alex Acuna and Vinnie Colaiuta and Paulinho da Costa.
Smitty: Yes and, man, what a groove! I mean, I love all the tracks. These tracks are fantastic. Great mix, by the way.
LR: Thank you.
Smitty: Yes, and I cannot leave out your son (Wesley Ritenour). Wow. (Both laughing.)
LR: Well, that was actually another inspiration for the album. My son Wesley has just turned 13. He was 12 during the recording of this record and he is quite a drummer already and has been studying drums since he was four, but he’s also very interested in African percussion and studies percussion. He also loves Indian tables and our favorite concert to go to this year was Ravi Shankar, so he has quite a variety of tastes for a young man, and his enthusiasm of drums and percussion was also a key link, and I ended up using about seven or eight percussionists on this record, plus Wesley made his debut as a drummer, and I didn’t force that. It happened quite naturally when we were recording a percussion part with another player one day and he was in the studio and started playing a groove on the drums and we all decided that that fit quite nicely and he put on the headphones and played to the click track like a little pro and it just happened.
Smitty: Well, tell him he’s “stone cool”! (Both laughing.)
LR: Thank you very much. That’s one of the names of the tunes which he happened to co-write.
Smitty: Yes indeed. Man, well, congratulations to him. So just talk to me a little bit about having a son play on your record. I mean, that’s not something that happens every day. So when you have a son in the business, you might say, or on your track or on your project, does it tend to make you a different dad? (Both laughing.)
LR: Well, I see a lotta things that he’s doing that I did at the same age as him. When I was around 13 years old I went to the Stan Kenton Clinics out in Redlands, California, and got an introduction to jazz big band music back then, and just this summer he went to the Stanford Jazz Clinic so it was a very similar kind of thing, and so I see reflections of myself. But for him and for me it’s sort of taking all this with a grain of salt because it’s sorta like the family business a little bit. I’m not pushing him to be a musician, he’s totally in love with it, and it’s sort of like that’s what he does and it’s sorta like almost natural like getting up and eating breakfast or something. It’s just in the blood and there’s music in the house all the time and there’s lots of drums all the time. (Both laughing.)
Smitty: Never a dull moment, huh? Well, I think that’s a beautiful thing. When I first saw that he was on the project, I said, that’s gotta be a rewarding thing for a dad. You probably popped all the buttons off your shirt, you know?
LR: Yeah. I’m very proud of him and it’s nice in these days and age to see a young student that was introduced obviously to jazz because of my background but, I mean, his favorite pianist is Oscar Peterson, his favorite drummer is Buddy Rich, and you just don’t see that in today’s world so often.
Smitty: No, tell him he’s rare and beautiful. That’s great. So is it by coincidence his name is Wesley?
LR: Wesley was named after Wes Montgomery. I was recording the Wes Bound album dedicated to Wes Montgomery, the great jazz guitarist, when Wes was conceived and so the name was pretty straight ahead and that was what was on my mind, so he was gonna be Wes.
