Album Review

Richard S. Ginell [allmusic.com]

Portrait is predominantly a series of encounters between Ritenour and several guest interlopers, presumably to provide a well-rounded stylistic composite. The more heartening result is the acceleration of Ritenour's growth into a tastier, more musical guitarist, whether in the lead or sharing the spotlight. ''Asa'' is excellent, a fine Djavan tune with the composer's vocals adding immeasurably and possibly inspiring some tasty electric work from Lee -- and there is a sweetly-played Brazilian-styled tune, ''Windmill,'' where Rit's playing almost resembles that of Chet Atkins in its smooth deceptive simplicity. ''G-Rit'' has Kenny G exchanging riffs with the far more inventive Ritenour, but you can tell that Kenny is definitely stoking Lee's engine. There are three tracks with a restrained quorum from Yellowjackets; ''White Water'' is not bad, has a nice flow, while Jobim's ''Children's Games'' receives a lovely performance and ''Runaway'' closes the LP on an attractive note (the CD has an additional cut). One of Rit's better records of the '80s.