Lee Ritenour - March 30, 2013
Lee Ritenour. March 30, 2013. Late show.
Blues Alley. Washington, DC.
I can't take credit for this one. I was barely talked out of the house for dinner, and I didn't even know Blues Alley existed. I had no idea what I was getting myself into. To think, a legendary jazz club right under my nose and it took me nearly 4 months to sniff it out. Dizzy Gillespie played there, Sarah Vaughan, Charlie Byrd, the list goes on.
The atmosphere is great. There can't be a bad seat in the house, I think it only holds 125 people. The small, intimate setting is perfectly suiting for long nights of amazing jazz, and tonight the stage belonged to virtuoso guitarist Lee Ritenour. In a career spanning nearly five decades, Ritenour has recorded over 40 albums and played thousands of sessions while collaborating with some of music's biggest names.
The night started with LA By Bike, a track off Ritenour's most recent album, Rhythm Sessions, and took off from there. The tone was set before the first note when Lee jokingly renamed the song, DC By Bike. Accompanying Ritenour on stage was John Beasley on keys, Melvin Davis on bass, and Sonny Emory on drums. You could tell they were all having fun. Ritenour never stopped smiling. Emory and Davis were fist-bumping all night. Even the most distinguished guests couldn't help but tap their feet.
Our table was only 4-feet behind Emory, and from my seat he stole the show. He was changing rhythms without losing the beat, I don't know how to describe it. They played a jazzed-up version of Bob Marley's Get Up, Stand Up, with the crowd filling in on backup vocals during the refrain. I wasn't ready to leave when it was over, I wanted more. Then again, these guys were playing two shows per night for 4 days, and they're probably doing that in every city.
One thing is for sure, BlueSkyCampfires will be revisiting Blues Alley, and soon.
Stage setup after the show. Photo by BlueSkyCampfires.
