Ramsey Lewis QuintetLee RitenourErnie Watts

RENÉE AND HENRY SEGERSTROM CONCERT HALLOctober 7, 2017

Saturday at 8 p.m.

Out of courtesy to the artists and your fellow patrons, please take a moment to turn

off and refrain from using cellular phones, pagers, watch alarms and similar devices. The use of any audio or videorecording device or the taking of photographs (with or without

flash) is strictly prohibited. Thank you.

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About the Artists

Ramsey Lewis Ramsey Lewis has been an iconic leader in the contemporary jazz movement for over 50 years, with an unforgettable sound and outgoing personality that has allowed him to cross over to the pop and R&B charts. The Ramsey Lewis Trio, with bassist Eldee Young and percussionist Redd Holt, became a fixture on the Chicago jazz scene, releasing their debut album, Ramsey Lewis & His Gentlemen of Jazz, back in 1956. Lewis earned his first gold record, as well as a Grammy® Award for Best Jazz Performance, for their swinging version of Dobie Gray’s hit “The In Crowd.” He returned to the pop charts in 1966 with versions of “Hang On Sloopy” and “Wade In The Water.” Throughout the years, Lewis’ trio has under-gone membership changes, all the while stay-ing true to Lewis’ high musical standards. After Young and Holt left Lewis’ trio to form their own group, the pianist hired a new rhythm section with Cleveland Eaton on bass and Maurice White on drums. When White left the band to form Earth, Wind & Fire, Morris Jennings signed on as the trio’s new percussionist. White returned to produce Lewis’ 1974 smash album titled Sun Goddess, in which Lewis first experimented with electronic keyboards and featured Earth, Wind & Fire on the album. In 1983, Lewis returned to the studio with Young and Holt for the album Reunion. Throughout his illustrious career, Lewis who is a NEA Jazz Master, has also joined forces with countless other artists to create new and innovative music. In 1984, he col-laborated with Nancy Wilson on The Two of Us; in 1988, he recorded with London’s Philharmonic Orchestra for the album A Classic Encounter; and in 1989, Lewis and Dr. Billy Taylor cut a set of piano duets in We Meet Again. In 1995, Lewis launched the side project Urban Knights, in which he collaborated with a handful of success-ful crossover jazz stars, including Grover Washington, Jr., Earl Klugh, and Dave Koz.In 1997, Lewis added disc jockey to his resume, hosting a popular show on Chicago’s WNUA-FM that ran until 2009. A new show was syndicated in 2006 under the name Legends of Jazz with Ramsey Lewis and was broadcast on jazz radio stations across the

country. In 2006, a well-received 13-episode Legends of Jazz television series hosted by Lewis was broadcast by PBS on public TV nationwide and featured live performances by a variety of jazz artists including Larry Gray, Lonnie Smith, Joey Defrancesco, Dave Brubeck, Chick Corea, Kurt Elling, Benny Golson, Pat Metheny and Tony Bennett.Lately he has been touring with Philip Bailey (Earth, Wind & Fire), John Pizzarelli and Dee Dee Bridgewater as well as doing dates in celebration of the 50th anniversary of “The ‘In’ Crowd.” After having played mostly in an acous-tic trio for the last 15 years, Lewis’ latest endeavor has him returning to his electric roots. The three-time Grammy winner released his new CD Taking Another Look – Deluxe Edition in 2015, featuring a new electric quintet with Henry Johnson on gui-tar, Michael Logan on keys, Joshua Ramos on bass and Charles Heath on drums.On the CD, Lewis rekindles his 1974 career-defining album Sun Goddess through a collection of re-recorded tracks from the

original disc perfectly balanced with five new tunes. “Jungle Strut” has all the attitude of its 1974 original and Lewis makes magic on the Fender Rhodes in “Tambura.” And rather than re-recording the title track “Sun Goddess,” Lewis has beautifully re-edited the original studio recording featur-ing Earth, Wind and Fire. Lewis and his Electric Band breathe new life into classic covers, such as the new high-octane rendi-tion of Stevie Wonder’s “Living For The City” for which Ramsey shot a great a new video and a tender interpretation of the timeless “Betcha By Golly Wow.” “I’ve recorded maybe 70-80 albums, and this album is definitely among the top five,” said Lewis.

Ramsey Lewis

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Lee Ritenour Lee Ritenour, (born Lee Mack Ritenour, January 11, 1952, Los Angeles, CA) has maintained a delicate balance between the individual creative vision and the group dynamic, since the beginning of his career. He did his first session work in the late ’60s with the Mamas and the Papas, who dubbed him Captain Fingers for demonstrating incredible dexterity while still in his teens. Since his early recordings in the 1970s, he has earned a Grammy Award and 19 Grammy nominations, numerous #1 spots on guitar polls, a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Canadian SJ Awards, and a pres-tigious “Alumnus of the Year” Award from the University of Southern California. He has recorded more than 40 albums that have yielded 35 chart songs. As a young guitarist, he put his combination of diverse musical styles and brilliant technical chops to work on more than 3,000 sessions with a broad spectrum of artists, and was a founding member of Fourplay, which is considered the most successful group in contemporary jazz. Lee celebrated five decades as a guitarist in 2010 with the release of 6 String Theory, which features Steve Lukather, Neal Schon, John Scofield, Slash, Mike Stern, George Benson and B.B. King. The album also introduced Andy McKee, Joe Robinson and Guthrie Govan. The record was in conjunc-tion with his first multinational 6 String Theory Competition, sponsored by Yamaha, Berklee College of Music, Montreux Jazz Festival, Blue Note Tokyo, Crown of the Continents Guitar Workshop and Festival, Monster, Premier Guitar, Jazz Monthly, Music Connection, Concord Records and D’Addario. The Six String Theory com-petition continues to grow, and has now expanded to include a Rhythm Section competition for Piano, Bass and Drums. In 2012, the Grand Prize winners were hon-ored to appear with Lee on Rhythm Sessions, which also features luminaries such as Chick Corea, George Duke, Stanley Clarke, Dave Grusin, Marcus Miller and many others. The 2014 winners performed at the illustrious Montreux Jazz Festival and the guitar grand prize winner, Tony Pusztai, recorded a track on Ritenour’s 2015 A Twist of Rit album star-ring greats such as: Academy® & Grammy®

winning Dave Grusin, Dave Weckl, John Beasley, and Ernie Watts. Prize highlights for the 2016 competi-tion included: Berklee College of Music Scholarships; performance at the legendary Blue Note Tokyo with Lee Ritenour and up-and-coming All-Star musicians from Japan; recording on Lee Ritenour’s album at the stunning Woodshed Recording Studio in Malibu and scholarships and perfor-mances at Crown Guitar Festival in scenic Montana. Other prizes included travel and hotel for performance and recording oppor-tunities, Yamaha instruments & endorse-ments, professional mentoring with Lee Ritenour, Monster and D’Addario prizes. “When I first started this competition it was my hope it would grow to become a valuable entity that would have the support of so many established musicians in men-toring aspiring ones,’ say Rienour. “In four short years we have reached incredible goals and I couldn’t be more thrilled and grate-ful to have so many artists be part of this extraordinary musical process and journey.” In 2016 Concord Records released The Vinyl LP Collection: a limited-edition,

individually numbered box set celebrating a key period in the prolific solo career of renowned guitarist Lee Ritenour. The col-lection contains five classic LPs byRitenour: Earth Run (1986), Portrait (1987), Festival (1988), Color Rit (1989) and, on vinyl for the first time, the Grammy® Award-nominated Wes Bound (1993). These albums have each been remastered, pressed on audiophile-quality, 180-gram vinyl and restored with original artwork and liner notes. An accom-panying 46-page booklet contains new liner notes by Ritenour plus never-before-seen photos and ephemera from an extensive scrapbook collection lovingly kept by the guitarist’s late father.

Lee Ritenour

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Ernie Watts Two-time Grammy Award winner Ernie Watts is one of the most versatile and prolific saxophone players in music. It has been more than 50 years since he first picked up a saxo-phone, and from age 16 on he has been playing professionally, initially while still attending school. Watts has been featured on over 500 recordings by artists ranging from Cannonball Adderley to Frank Zappa, always exhibiting his unforgettable trademark sound. In 2014, Watts received the prestigious Frankfurt Music Prize given by the city of Frankfurt, Germany. It is presented to both classical and non-classical musicians. Of the 32 current winners, only 6 have been jazz musicians. After 15 albums as a leader for a vari-ety of labels large and small, Watts started Flying Dolphin Records in 2004, in part-nership with his wife, Patricia. Flying Dolphin is a new chapter for the artist’s creative expression. Flying Dolphin’s first release Alive (2004) was recorded live at the Backstage in Fulda, Germany. Watts started playing saxophone at age 13 in Wilmington, Delaware. He won a schol-arship to the Wilmington Music School where he studied classical music and tech-nique. Though they had no jazz program, his mother gave him his own record player plus a record club membership. That first record club selection was the brand-new Miles Davis album Kind of Blue. “When I first heard John Coltrane play, it was like someone put my hand into a light socket,” Watts says. He won a Downbeat Scholarship to the Berklee College of Music in Boston, renowned for jazz. When Gene Quill quit Buddy Rich’s Big Band in Boston, trombonist Phil Wilson (a professor at Berklee), was asked to recommend a student as temporary replacement. A young Ernie Watts was referred, and left Berklee for that important spot. The “student temporary” stayed with Rich from 1966-1968 and toured the world, also recording two albums with the band—Big Swing Face and The New One. Next, Watts moved to Los Angeles and began working in the big bands of Gerald Wilson and Oliver Nelson. With the Nelson band, Watts visited Africa on a U.S. State Department tour in 1969. During the 1970s and ’80s, Watts was immersed in the busy

production scene of Los Angeles. His signa-ture sound was heard on countless TV shows and movie scores, almost all the early West Coast Motown sessions, and with pop stars such as Aretha Franklin and Steely Dan. In 1983, the film composer Michel Colombier wrote an orchestral piece titled “Nightbird” for Watts. At the work’s inaugural performance at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, Charlie Haden came backstage to introduce himself. The meeting led to Watts performing with Haden’s Liberation Music Orchestra and to tours with Pat Metheny’s Special Quartet, which included Haden. Watts’ charter membership in Haden’s critically acclaimed Quartet West, continued for almost 30 years until Haden’s death. Watts’ eclectic mix of career activities has included work with vocalist Kurt

Elling in a tribute to Johnny Hartman and John Coltrane, Dedicated To You, and concerts with the WDR Big Band Cologne in Germany, the Croatian Radio Television Jazz Orchestra in Zagreb and the National Radio Band of Slovenia, which played two of his compositions arranged for Watts by the celebrated Michael Abene. He has performed in Jazz at the Kennedy Center, in Australia with Billy Cobham and orchestra, and in 2016 with the Symphonic Jazz Orchestra in Los Angeles. He gives back to the music by conducting clinics and master classes, both on the student and professional level. Ernie Watts plays Keilwerth saxophones exclusively, Peter Ponzol synthetic reeds on tenor, and D’Addario Jazz Select reeds on alto and soprano.

Ernie Watts