He Saved the 'Give Me The Night' Solo

Session guitar legend, Lee Ritenour, tells the story of how he ended up overdubbing part of George Benson’s solo on the hit song “Give Me The Night”. Ritenour was told to NEVER tell Benson about this–and after years of secrecy– Ritenour couldn’t keep this story to himself any longer. This video is one part of our upcoming "The Guitarist Behind..." interview with Lee Ritenour - please subscribe and turn on notifications so you know when the full interview releases!

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CREDITS
Host/Producer: Mason Marangella
Guest: Lee Ritenour
Videographer: Ricky Chavez
Video Editing: Mason Mejia
Co-Production/Design: Mason Mejia
Audio Editing: Hunter Harrison

#leeritenour #georgebenson #givemethenight #theguitaristbehind

[OGCAMG]

One thing that impresses me the most about all these legends is how humble they all are and how much they respect all their fellow practitioners!

[stickman]

Lee Ritenour is such an incredible player and a real legend.

[beneunson]

You're literally chronicling the history of recorded guitar!! Incredible work

[jmcdrummer]

Hi, Lee, this is Jim Currie (drummer)...we played many casual gigs together when you were about 18-19-20..I .also worked with Peter Woodford in those days. Good to see you doing this interview. Your old bass player, Mel, lived in my condo complex years ago and I knew his wife, who would fill me in on his latest gigs with you. Small world !!

[maha]

As a teenager in the 80's, I think 'Give Me The Night' is my absolute favorite song of the 80's, and man I loved all those 80's songs, but this song makes my heart feel amazing

[ebeyslough]

Lee Ritenour is incomparable. The best of the best.

[JensLarsen]

What a great story! Thanks Mason (and Lee of course)

[djGreenALERT]

Hands up who after watching this video is going to listen to Give me the night in it's entirety again, paying special attention to the last few bars of the solo? That is a GREAT story from a great legend by the way. Thank you so much for uploading this!

[nanicattack]

Rit's such a down to earth humble giant.

[michaelmcgannon]

Lee total pro. Incredible good humor! Incredible, deep player!
A real role model and hero.

[Lyn-kyvr]

I grew up listening to George Benson because of my dad! He used to ALWAYS listen to him back in the day when my dad had a Jerry Curl lol. peace!!!

[kentstallard]

Great story. Lee seems like a really nice guy.

I'm a pro keyboardist in the Phoenix area. George lives here and he drops in to music venues frequently. Everyone has a selfie with him.

I did a show with a 4-piece band + vocals prior to the pandemic at a local club. George attended with (the late, sadly) Joni Sledge.

We covered "LoveXLove." I handled the primary parts and included strings but didn't play it note-for-note like the original. Afterwards I was chatting with him and apologized for not duplicating the record. He laughed. "Hell, we don't do it like the record at our shows either!"

Totally down to earth, humble guy.

Mason...you are an excellent interviewer because you don't interrupt and your questions are the ones we all want to hear answered.

[rodleaverton]

OMG! I’m so happy you got Lee on here. So excellent!

[WilliamDaugherty]

Lee is a national treasure! Thanks for producing this delightful interview.

[ERAPOSORESERVA]

These interviews are incredible! Keep them coming!

[diegomaugeri]

Finally! someone interviewing the greatest guitar player of all time!!!
In this age of top ten here and top 5 there, Lee Rit is always criminally overlooked.

[pallhe]

Love this story. I can see why Quincy liked to work with Ritenour. Lee has a tone, a pocket and chops to die for -- and is a great guy to boot.

[VlrGuitarWorld]

This channel has elevated to the stratosphere lately. Amazing content as always & influential to all guitar players.

[BadSneakers]

Rit and Larry Carlton do guitar on Steely Dan’s Deacon Blues. Crazy

[aloysiussnailchaser]

I love the way he occasionally kind of doodles on his guitar as he’s speaking. He clearly just loves playing.