First Course
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Reception
First Course was made when Ritenour was considered the best session musician in Los Angeles next to guitarist Larry Carlton.[1] He recorded the album with peers from Dante's and the Baked Potato club in Studio City, California. AllMusic called the album an "artifact of the early L.A. jazz/funk sound".[2]
Ritenour worried about the album. "I was still thinking as a studio musician, and I was very worried about having my own identity on the guitar, because up until that time my job as a studio musician had been to be a 'chameleon'...it wasn't until several years later that I felt more comfortable with who I was stylistically."[1]
Financial problems plagued the album because the "sound perplexed studio executives," who were looking for the next Bitches Brew or Return to Forever.[3] This was melodic rhythm and blues-based jazz that fell just outside the boundaries of "Fusion" and didn't find a home until newly formatted radio stations began to popularize two emerging genres in the mid to late 80's - The genre broadly known as Smooth Jazz, and also "New Age" music, between which there was considerable overlap.
Track listing
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Personnel
- Lee Ritenour – electric guitars (1-4, 6, 8), classical guitars (5, 9)
- Dave Grusin – Fender Rhodes (1-3, 6-9), synthesizers (2, 3, 6, 7, 9), organ (4), horn arrangements (4, 6), clavinet (8), acoustic piano (9)
- Michael Omartian – clavinet (1), horn arrangements (1)
- Larry Nash – clavinet (2, 4, 6), acoustic piano (4)
- Ian Underwood – synthesizer programming (2, 3, 6, 7, 9)
- Jerry Peters – clavinet (3), acoustic piano (7), synthesizers (7)
- Patrice Rushen – clavinet (8)
- Bill Dickinson – bass (1, 8)
- Louis Johnson – bass (2, 6)
- Chuck Rainey – bass (3, 4, 7)
- Harvey Mason – drums (1-3, 6-8), percussion (2, 3)
- Ed Greene – drums (4)
- Jerry Steinholtz – percussion (3, 7, 8), congas (7, 8)
- Tom Scott – tenor saxophone (1, 2, 4, 6, 8), tenor sax solo (1, 8), horn arrangements (2, 8), lyricon (solo: 4, 8)
- Ernie Watts – tenor saxophone (1)
- Jerome Richardson – baritone saxophone (1, 2, 4, 6, 8)
- Frank Rosolino – trombone (1, 2, 4, 6, 8)
- Chuck Findley – trumpet (1, 2, 4, 6, 8)
Production
- Jerry Schoenbaum – executive producer
- Skip Drinkwater – producer
- Lee Ritenour – associate producer
- Al Schmitt – engineer
- Linda Tyler – assistant engineer
- Doug Sax – mastering at The Mastering Lab (Hollywood, California)
- Sam Emerson – cover photography
- Fred Valentine – sleeve photography
- Ron Coro – art direction
- Mick Haggerty – design
- Tommy Steele – design
1990 Reissue/Remastered credits
- Nedra Neal – digital producer
- Vic Anesini – remastering at CBS Studios (New York City, New York)
- Chuck Berg – liner notes
References
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