Lee Ritenour

Arranging is the way I put my stamp on my music as much as my guitar playing.

My son Wesley has just turned 13. He was 12 during the recording of this record and he is quite a drummer already and has been studying drums since he was four, but he's also very interested in African percussion and studies percussion.

Well, Smoke n' Mirrors has very much a world music flavor and it doesn't park itself in one country. It borrows heavily from the Brazilian angle, which is dear to my heart, and I recorded several albums with that flavor.

In 2010, I had been playing guitar for 50 years.

I've done a lot of albums and I kinda know when I'm onto something that was inspirational for me to record and create, and this was one of those projects where I really enjoyed making the album.

If you play the very subtle jazz tunes with acoustic pianos, acoustic bass and it's a dead standard, you are going to play very differently. It depends on the music.

Zamajobe is great. She's a terrific singer from South Africa.

I always recommend to any player to always compose their own music. It's one of the best things you can do to find a road to your own style.

I had redesigned my entire amplifier system for this tour because airlines are very strict now.

I always love making albums. I'm passionate about it and it's something that's healthy for the soul and spirit.

I used a baritone guitar with a very unusual tuning that became the body of the composition, while the classical guitar is on top of it with the main rhythm part.

Even though there are some great keyboard players on the album, there are a number of songs with no keyboard on them and the backing is all guitar oriented. This is first time I've ever done this actually.