Ritenour’s mix takes time to click

Guitarist Lee Ritenour was one of the pioneers in laying out the framework for the music generally -- if somewhat vaguely -- described as contemporary jazz. In the Ritenour view, this has meant a combination of funk and R&B; rhythms, riff-based melodies and stretched-out harmonies, delivered in highly virtuosic fashion with an occasional sprinkling of Brazilian seasoning.

It’s a combination that has consistently kept his more than two dozen albums on the contemporary jazz charts over the past 30 years.

And it was on full display Tuesday when Ritenour, who has most frequently been seen in large venues, opened a rare club run at Catalina.

Despite all of the additional musical firepower on stage, however -- saxophonist-flutist Ernie Watts, pianist John Beasley, bassist Melvin Davis and drummer Will Kennedy -- the set began somewhat listlessly, with a pair of first-rate jazz classics, Lee Morgan’s “Party Time” and Gary McFarland’s “13,” delivered in well-crafted but not particularly energetic style. By the third and fourth tunes, however, the voltage had been kicked up to a considerably higher level. One of the evening’s most captivating numbers, in fact, was a duet between Ritenour and Davis on Ritenour’s “Etude,” a rhythmically intense interchange enlivened by occasional moments of humor.

And the wrap-up piece, another original titled “Night Rhythms,” brought everything together into the unique Ritenour perspective, a musical outlook that at its best colorfully blurs the lines between imaginative, straight-ahead jazz and foot-tapping instrumental pop.

*

Lee Ritenour

Where: Catalina Bar & Grill, 1640 N. Cahuenga Blvd., Hollywood

When: Today-Saturday, 8:30 and 10:30 p.m.; Sunday, 7 and 9 p.m.

Price: $20-$35, with two drink minimum

Contact: (323) 466-2210