JAZZ REVIEW : RITENOUR GETS DOWN AT THE AMPHITHEATRE

Lee Ritenour left no doubt about his intentions from the moment he stepped on stage at the Universal Amphitheatre Tuesday night. “We’re gonna get down,” was the way he put it, and get down he did, with a rocking, rolling, soul-stretching set that had the crowd shouting for more.

Guitarist Ritenour’s finger-cracking technique was on full display, with rapid-fire fusion licks on “Early A.M. Attitudes,” pure rock ‘n’ roll lead guitar on “This Is the Countdown” and a funk-drenched improvised duet with singer Patti Austin.

Co-leader Dave Grusin, a pianist/composer whose credits range from television (“St. Elsewhere”) to feature films (“Tootsie”) to considerable prominence in the fusion-jazz movement of the ‘80s, was equally--if less visibly--effective on synthesizer, and contributed one of the few quietly introspective moments of the evening with a delicately thoughtful solo version of his “Tootsie” theme.

But Ritenour and Grusin would probably be the first to acknowledge that the real energy of the evening came from the world-class rhythm section of bassist Abe Laboriel, drummer Vinny Colaiuta and percussionist Paulinho Dacosta. The ever-dependable Laboriel, in particular, always seemed to be at the flashpoint of each successive wave of excitement. Singer Phil Perry added a few fireworks of his own on two hard- rocking songs from a new Ritenour album.

Stanley Jordan opened the show with a richly harmonic hour’s worth of his unique guitar solos. Employing a technique in which he taps, rather than plucks the strings, Jordan has created a unique style that mixes keyboard densities with stringed instrument pitch control.

Sounding far more consistent than he did a year ago, Jordan was particularly effective on “Eleanor Rigby,” “Autumn Leaves” and his own “All The Children.”