Lee Ritenour - Festival

Ritenour's second acoustic album, like his first, has an overall Brazilian theme but this time, he recorded his ensemble of New York, L.A. and Brazilian musicians in one locale, New York City. This is a superior record to Rio, though, because there is a deeper Brazilian feeling to the arrangements, and Lee's own playing is even more refined and meaningful. "Waiting For You," a solo track on an acoustic guitar synthesizer, is especially attractive. The core crew consists of a collection of pro's pros -- Ernie Watts on alto and tenor, Dave Grusin or Bob James on keyboards, Marcus Miller or Anthony Jackson on bass, Omar Hakim on drums, Paulinho Da Costa and Carlinhos Brown on percussion -- who lay down smooth yet gently grooving backdrops for Rit to ride. Joao Bosco and Gracinha Leporace contribute fascinating Portuguese vocals to the album's two most appealing and thoroughly Brazilian-flavored tracks, "Latin Lovers" and "Odile, Odila" -- and Caetano Veloso brings a softer-focused vocal style to "Linda." ~ Richard S. Ginell, All Music Guide

Name Credits Andy Baltimore Graphic Design, Design, Creative Director Anthony Jackson Guitar (Bass), Bass Antonio Peticov Cover Art, Cover Design Arnold Madlener Second Engineer, Engineer Bob James Keyboards, Soloist Caetano Veloso Vocals Carlinhos Brown Cabasa, Pandeiro, Djembe, Percussion Chris Cuffaro Photography Dan Serrano Design, Graphic Design Dave Grusin Executive Producer, Arranger, Keyboards Dave Kunze Design, Graphic Design David Gibb Graphic Design, Design Don Murray Engineer, Digital Mixing, Producer Ernie Watts Sax (Alto), Sax (Tenor) Gary Solomon Assistant Engineer, Assistant Gracinha Leporace Vocals (Background) Ivan Salgado Graphic Design Jerry Hey Strings, Horn Arrangements, Arranger, String Arrangements, Horn João Bosco Guitar (Acoustic), Vocals Johnny Mandel Arranger, Horn Arrangements, String Arrangements Kevin Dixon Second Engineer, Mixing Larry Rosen Executive Producer Larry Walsh Editing, Digital Editing Larry Williams ?, Horn, Strings Lee Ritenour Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar (Synthesizer), Synthesizer, Rhythm Arrangements, Liner Notes, Arranger, Producer Marcus Miller Bass Omar Hakim Drums Paulinho Da Costa Bells, Bongos, Percussion Peter Doell Mixing, Second Engineer Randy Kerber String Arrangements, Horn Arrangements Robbie Kondor Synthesizer Programming, Synthesizer Suzanne Sherman Production Coordination Wally Traugott Mastering, Digital Mastering Zero Nylin Production Assistant