Customer Reviews

Larry & Lee

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

There is something special about two guitarists trading licks back and forth. Funny how four years after this album Larry Carlton would end up replacing Lee Ritenour in the group Foreplay. This album will not disappoint you if you're a fan of either guitarist. Both men are incredibly talented with the guitar, and play with real drive and emotion.

The album starts out with a great tune in "Crosstown Kids", which prepares you for what's to come. "L.A. Underground" really steps it up with Ritenour leading the way, breaking in several places to give Carlton a place to play. On the cut, "After the Rain" they lay back and play a very smooth piece before turning it up again on "Remembering". Throughout the album, these guitarists use each other to springboard to new levels of playing. They take turns expanding on an idea, combining their styles to really bring out some fun music.

There is some very good stuff on this album. Ritenour's smooth playing is counterbalanced by the bluesy edge of Carlton's. The complement is enjoyable, and it gives quite a coloring to the music. Guitar fans should find this album very impressive. It is one that I keep revisiting.

If you like Larry Carlton you'll like this album. If you like Lee Ritenour you'll love this album. Although Larry is my favorite guitarist I thought Lee had the best guitar parts but Larry wrote the best songs. A must have.

If you're a jazz guitar fan, this cd will blow you away. Impossible to pick a favorite track because every one is pure magic. Tasteful, intelligent smooth-jazz at it's best. Larry & Lee - if you read this - please get together and make another cd. It would be a shame if this turns out to be your only collaboration...

The Larry and Lee project is probably the most exciting collaboration in jazz-music the last decade.

The record is a superb mix of jazz, funk, country and rock music. The two guitarist get the chance too play with, against, and for each other. It`s no show-off-record but a record which puts the melody and the guitar itself in center. It`s filled with top musicians who know how to play along with these two skilled and magnificant guitar players.

As a guitarist myself, I love both Lee and Larry's playing and agree with their approach to this CD (music over chops), but this and many of both their individual efforts just do not move me. It's just too safe and homogenized. You just want them to let down their guards and get at least a little edgy but they never do. I have bought many of both their CD's but none are still in my collection much for the same reason. I wish Larry would allow an independent producer to come in and point him in the right direction because as a truly gifted player he always seems to miss the mark when recording his own projects.

Weeeelllll, maybe it is. But it's real cheese, not processed slices.

As a longterm fan of LC via his ultra-sweet Steely work (Kid C, Josie, Third World Man, etc etc) and the best of his solo stuff (various cuts on the first half dozen semi-smoooth cds), and an appreciator of Lee for his genre-defining smooothness, I expected mostly pleasant pap from this puppy.

But as Rob Reiner would say about Spinal Tap: "I got that...and a whole lot more!"

There's some fire here, muted at points but at others well-defined (cuts 2,3,4,6). These guys are well aware that there are massive smooth-jazz radio royalties at stake (ok, maybe not massive but at least beach-enabling), and they fulfill those moments predictably, but there are also some truly tasty moments. Not to mention the various ridiculously dead-on session bassists and drummers (Harvey Mason has some very solid moments).

Lar lays into it at points and his wickedly crisp phrasing brings Lee to the table ready to play, and we all win. Gotta give Ritenour credit: few git-boxists ever let their ego relax this much in favor of real harmony.

This session reminds me of the early Eagles: everybody loves to call them Too Perfect, but when you lay back and really listen.....there's some harmonically fine music awaitin'. Won't change your life, but might gently relax and enhance it.

Have you ever had mind-blowing sex beside a swimming pool or the ocean and laid there afterwards in total bliss thinking, whoa, that rocked my world?

This album would fit well on the speakers in the palm trees at that moment.

This disk is great for many reasons.

What I like best is that it is a musical laboratory where each song is an experiment exposing key elements of what makes each guitarist great. At the end, I think Larry and Lee have very complementary approaches to guitar playing, composing and arranging. You get to hear that more clearly on this disk as a result of the mix of playing styles and songs than you would on their solo disks.

Let's start with key Lee elements. From a guitar playing standpoint, he can do just about everything well and make it sound easy. As a soloist, he has much more jazz in his jazz blues mix. Lee is very much from the Wes Montgomery/George Benson school. From a song writing perspective, he writes very strong lead lines. "Crosstown Kids" and "LA Underground" showcase this best. From an arranging perspective, he tends to let the rest of the band handle the chords and harmony of the song. In this respect, Lee is like Grant Green as a song writer.

Key Larry elements: From a guitar playing standpoint, Larry puts out a more limited range of guitar technique and everything he does is infused with Carlton. Larry is about Larryness. (In some sense, Lee is so free, great and easy about everything technically that his guitar personality is harder to pin down.) As a soloist, Larry has much more blues and R&B than jazz. But when he goes into jazzland, it often has more dissonance and angularity then is typical for jazz guitar, smooth or otherwise. To me, Larry is more like Grant Green as soloist. From a song writing perspective, Larry is about close harmonies played by the guitar either through chords or doubled lead lines. The rest of the band is more about playing accents and handling the harmony during guitar solos. This is on full display in "Remembering J.P" and "Up and Adam." In this respect, Larry is more like Joe Pass if Joe focused more on original tunes and wrapped a band around his most famous solo jazz guitar approach.

Those who want more loose, raw, uninhibited playing should go elsewhere: Larry and Lee will never let you know these qualities because their guitar playing skills are just too good. If you want loose, raw, uninhibited, but righteously skilled guitar playing, check out Rick Derringer's work on Edgar Winter's "Roadwork" album.

Those who like smooth/contemporary jazz, but would like to hear different, guitar-oriented approaches to this style will love this album.

This cd is a must have for any contemporary jazz fan! If you love guitar or excellent contemporary jazz this is one of those hidden gems. I bought this cd last year and it is still in my cd changer. My favorite on this album are Fun In The Dark, Crosstown Kids, Low Steppin, and After The Rain. This is one of the very few jazz albums that don't have any skips in it. The whole album is triple A. Please do yourself a favor and pick this album up you won't ever be disappointed!

WAY BACK IN THE 80s I DREAMED AND WISHED THAT LARRY AND LEE SHOULD COLLABORATE IN ONE ALBUM AND THEN THEY CAN REST ON THEIR LAURELS AND MAKE A PERMANENT PLACE IN JAZZ HISTORY AS THE ULTIMATE COLLABORATION EVER. I NEVER THOUGHT THAT IT WOULD HAPPEN AND WHEN IT DID MY JOY WAS OVERFLOWING,,I IMMEDIATELY BOUGHT TWO CDs AND TWO CASSETTE TAPES (AT PRESENT Im STILL SEARCHING FOR THE VINYL EDITION),THE DUPLICATE COPIES I RESERVED THEM AS MY SOUVENIR, AND I IMMEDIATELY INFORMED MY FRIENDS ABOUT THIS TERRIFIC UNION OF THESE TWO MODERN JAZZ GUITARISTS.THE PLAYING OF THE TWO GIANTS IS SUPERB AS THEY COMPLEMENT EACH OTHER IN THE GUITAR,,THIS A FRIENDLY DUEL AND DUETS OF THE TWO GIANTS..A PERFECT MATCH IN HEAVEN SIMILAR TO THE BENSON/KLUGH COLLABORATION, BUT I STILL PREFER THE LARRY AND LEE TANDEM BECAUSE OF THE TIGHTNESS OF THE TRACKS SELECTIONS. EACH TRACK IS A BEAUTY TO BEHOLD AND I NEED NOT ELABORATE FURTHER THE TRACKS LISTINGS AS THE NAMES OF THESE TWO GIANTS IS ENOUGH CREDENTIALS FOR THE WORTH OF THE ALBUM..THERE ARE NO FILLERS ALL TRACKS IS A WINNER. NO MUSIC LOVER SHOULD MISS AN OPPORTUNITY TO OWN THIS ALBUM, WHETHER HE IS A LOVER OF BLUES, JAZZ, ROCK AND IN BETWEEN.NEVER HESITATE A SECOND TO BUY THIS ALBUM.

Been a fan of Larry Carlton since his early years playing the Baked Potato in LA. This compilation with Lee Ritenour does not disappoint. Any Guitar fan will enjoy this project.