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- Artist: Lee Ritenour
- Rating:
- Release Date: 1997 -1998
- Total Time: 59:07
- Type: Lyrics are included with the album
- Genre: Jazz
Review
Lee Ritenour's first solo album for his new i.e. music label is a good one, one of his best actually, whether staying in the strict jazz-lite format that marks a lot of his previous work or straying into the other idioms that pop up here. Whether emulating Wes Montgomery's octaves or curling around in single-string fashion, Ritenour's playing is irresistibly tasty and swinging, perhaps more so than ever, and the material has real melodic interest -- more so than anything his former group Fourplay was performing around this time. Among the most interesting swerves off the track are the title tune, which mixes reggae with Montgomery in a very appealing way, and a surprisingly effective closing take on Fauré's "Pavanne." There are extended samples from Sonny Rollins' Alfie score, with "Alfie's Theme" grooving away in a cool, soulful, organ-jazz seam and "Street Runner" tracking Rollins' recording, its quicksilver post-bop clip juxtaposed with repose. On both tracks, Ronnie Foster supplies authentic Hammond B-3 -- perhaps fulfilling a Jimmy Smith-meets-Wes Montgomery fantasy. Bill Evans and Ernie Watts take guest turns on tenor on a few cuts; Bob James chips on agreeably on Rhodes electric piano on "Can You Feel It?"; and Ritenour often takes matters into his own hands, programming electronic drums and performing on synthesizers. Hardcore jazzers who wrote Ritenour off as a lightweight ought to hear how he has grown as a mature jazz guitarist on this album. ~ Richard S. Ginell, All Music GuideTracks
| Track Title | Composers | Performers | Time |
| This Is Love | Lee Ritenour | Lee Ritenour | (4:48) |
| Mr. Papa | Lee Ritenour | Lee Ritenour | (4:41) |
| Can You Feel It? | Lee Ritenour | Lee Ritenour | (5:21) |
| Dream Away | Lee Ritenour | Lee Ritenour | (4:29) |
| Alfie's Theme | Sonny Rollins | Lee Ritenour | (6:01) |
| And You Know What...I Love You | Lee Ritenour | Lee Ritenour | (5:18) |
| Baltimore | Randy Newman | Lee Ritenour | (4:53) |
| Ooh Yeah | Lee Ritenour | Lee Ritenour | (3:50) |
| Street Runner | Sonny Rollins | Lee Ritenour | (7:36) |
| Dreamwalk | Lee Ritenour | Lee Ritenour | (5:25) |
| Pavane | Gabriel Fauré | Lee Ritenour | (6:45) |
