Lee Ritenour's "6 String Theory"

Thank you, Mr. Kilts, for alerting me to this excellent recording a couple of months ago.  My guess is he was trolling for Joe Bonamassa and found him on a track here.  And what a track, but let's save that for a minute.  This album was released last summer with much fanfare in the guitar community.  There was a contest to find new talent, and the winner was a young Canadian who does the classical piece on the record.  Another discovery from Australia is Joe Robinson, also still in his teens, who contributes a two-minute finger pickin' smoker tune.  I found a video of him recorded in Nashville for your enlightenment.  The record's title obviously celebrates the axe, but it also numbers the styles of music contained.  There is the previously mentioned classical and acoustic, the obvious jazz, the foreshadowed blues, and toss in rock and country to round out the six.  Let's look at just a few names of the additional guest slingers:  John Scofield, George Benson, Robert Cray, BB King, Neil Schon, Slash, Steve Lukather, and Vince Gill.  Other contributions come from Keb Mo, Taj Mahal, Joey Defrancesco and Jonny Lang.  Yeah, you want this record already...

The opening track grabbed my attention right off the bat with its "Stratus"-styled jazz/fusion, and there is nothing wrong with borrowing from one of the greatest when you can give it the proper treatment.  Bonamassa and Cray add blues vocals and licks to the best version of Tracy Chapman's "Give Me One Reason" you will ever hear.  It should be on radio play lists worldwide.  There is a finger-snappin' cover of "Moon River", a fine rendition of "Why I Sing the Blues", and a decent effort of Jeff Beck's "Freeway Jam." 

Don't tell me you don't know who Lee Ritenour is.  He's been on hundreds of records since the mid 70's, like Aja/Steely Dan, Endless Flight/Leo Sayer, Sat. Nite Fever/Bee Gees, and a member of probably the most famous jazz group ever, Fourplay.  For my ear, his style isn't so much recognizable as it is compatible with whatever he's playing, and this record is excellent proof.  He doesn't sing, so the guest vocals contained within are welcome.  You know who the singers are from the earlier mentions (and some fine ones, at that), so don't be surprised that about a third of the 15 tracks are vocal.  When Bob sent this to me, I figured I'd cull a track or two, never owning one of LR's twenty + solo records before.  I did not dream of adding a new artist listing to my catalog for someone with a 35-year recording history, but I have for 6 String Theory.