Pianist Dave Grusin has earned 10 Grammys. He won an Academy Award and has received six more nominations for his countless film and television scores, from Tootsie to The Firm. Lee Ritenour is a top-selling guitarist and bandleader who's recorded with Aretha Franklin, Frank Sinatra, Dizzy Gillespie, Pink Floyd and hundreds more as a session guitarist.
As a duo, Grusin and Ritenour—who also happen to be best friends—have come through to play the KNKX studios twice, once in 2019 and 2015. During their 2015 appearance, they chatted with KNKX about their close collaboration, which blossomed in LA's jazz clubs and studio session scene.
"I grew up in LA and Dave was already a hero to me, because he was also working with a great jazz guitarist, Howard Roberts, and my father would take me to this jazz club in the valley called Dante's at the time, and we would hear Howard, and Dave would be playing there sometimes," Ritenour said.
Within a few years, Ritenour would get the chance to meet Grusin — at a party hosted by Sérgio Mendes, no less. The great Antonio Carlos Jobim was also a guest that night. To this day, both Ritenour and Grusin love playing the music of these masters of Brazilian jazz, responsible for hits like "Mas que Nada" and "The Girl from Ipanema."
"When I met Dave at 19, things kind of took off, because Sérgio invited me to play on a couple of the records, and so I got to know the family, so to speak," Ritenour said.
From there, Ritenour and Grusin would also team up to record jazz, pop-rock, TV and film scores in LA recording studios, which was a lonely, cooped-up sort of job at times. Getting out into the city's vibrant club scene at night with Ritenour brought Grusin closer to the larger music community—something he was missing in his day job.
"[I was] mostly working on film scores, mostly stuck in a room somewhere, trying to write. And it was always so much fun to get together with the players," Grusin said.
After a string of film score successes in the 1990s, Grusin's career started to slow down. Conversely, Ritenour's career was heating up. That's when he asked Grusin to join him on tour.
"That's become my musical life. You know, I've just kind of latched my wagon to Lee's career, so I'm very grateful," he said.
As a musical pairing, matching guitar and piano, two chordal instruments, can be tricky. Ritenour and Grusin say it's essential to leave each other room to play. By now, they're quite practiced at the method, as they deftly intertwine melody and harmony lines like a single musician with four hands.
"The guitar and piano are not so easy instruments to always play together with one another, because they both compete a little bit with each other. So Dave and I have just been natural accompanists," Ritenour said.
Since 2000, Ritenour and Grusin have recorded three albums as co-leaders, including the 2024 album, Brasil. When asked what keeps them synced up and inspired, Ritenour simply answered: "First of all, he's my best friend. So, that goes a long way."
Songs heard in this episode:
- "Pearl"
- "Amparo"
- "Carmen"
