AMG Review of Color Rit

Richard S. Ginell
All Music Guide

Color Rit begins right where Festival left off, with Brazilian-flavored electric jazz and Rit handling the acoustic guitar, but soon veers closer to a more generic L.A.-based series of sounds and textures. Ritenour adds electric guitar to several tracks, although the acoustic instrument dominates the album. Ernie Watts is back on a couple of cuts, but the bulk of the backup is provided by the likes of keyboardists Dave Witham, Larry Williams and Russ Ferrante, bassist Jimmy Johnson, percussionist Paulinho Da Costa and drummer Carlos Vega. "All the Same Tonight," "Malibu" and "I Can't Let Go," with vocals by Phil Perry, thankfully don't sound quite as commercial as previous attempts on earlier Ritenour albums. Yet this CD represents a slight dip for Ritenour at a stage in his career when his albums were gradually becoming classier and more musical.