New Album "AMPARO" now in stores! The long awaited classical cross-over record from Lee Ritenour and Dave Grusin is now available. Click here to purchase "Amparo."

Dear fans and friends,

It was great to see all the fans at the Summer concerts. Always great to see the fans in the U.S. and Europe. It's been terrific traveling around the world this year.

I recently participated in the Montreux Jazz Festival as president of the International Guitar Competition. There were some incredibly talented young guitarists from all over the world. Congratulations to all the finalists. I also was a featured artist for the Quincy Jones celebration concert in Montreux. The music was amazing; some of the guest artists included Herbie Hancock, Chaka Khan, Al Jarreau, James Moody, Toots Tielman, and Patti Austin. Happy Birthday Quincy!

My collaboration album with Dave Grusin for Universal/Decca entitled "Amparo" is now scheduled for release on September 9th. This is the classical crossover project that we worked on for over a year! Guest artists include: James Taylor, Renee Fleming, Joshua Bell, and Chris Botti. We're planning some exciting concerts in Tokyo, Los Angeles, New York, and Miami for its release. Check out the tour page for further details.

The debut "Amparo" concert is coming up very soon in October in Tokyo Japan at Sumida Triphony Hall with the "New Japan Philharmonic" orchestra. Abraham Laboriel on bass and Will Kennedy on drums will also be joining us on this tour. This concert will feature music from the new album as well as film music by Dave Grusin. Besides the theater concert, we'll also be playing at the Blue Note Tokyo for several days and the Blue Note Nagoya as well.

Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band's new album that I co-produced, "Act Your Age," will be released in September. Guest artists include Chick Corea, Patti Austin, Dave Grusin, and myself. We also did a track sampling Art Tatum's solo piano from 1939. It sounds amazing since the sound was redone with today's technology.

See you on the road, Best Wishes,

Lee

Check out myspace.com/leeritenour and of course you can always see quite a few of my videos on Youtube.com. Of course I always recommend purchasing my videos for their quality and total viewing experience. My latest DVD from a couple years back, "Overtime," is now available in High Definition DVD, 5.1 Surround Sound.