Fickle fingers of fate

"I'm told the last time I was in Hong Kong was 2007," Lee Ritenour said after the first couple of numbers during his appearance last Sunday at Grappa's Cellar. "And it's the first time that I've played a club like this here."

Too true. Since we lost the old Jazz Club in Lan Kwai Fong, visiting international jazz artists usually play concert halls, although - with a small number of high-profile exceptions - they seldom fill them. But Ritenour had packed Grappa's Cellar, which now boasts a new stage. It was an encouraging turnout for a gig which had been organised at short notice. A good performance from Ritenour and his band had rather more edge to it than the "smooth jazz" label - under which he is often marketed - would suggest.

Given the chance to watch him at closer quarters I found myself wondering how much of a guitarist's fate lies in his fingers. I remember reading an interview with Dave Gilmour, one of rock's most interesting electric guitar stylists, in which he claimed his style was based on coming to terms with the physical strengths and weaknesses of his fingers. There were particular things he could do well and others that he couldn't. For guitar parts he could think of, but which were beyond his physical ability to play, he said he simply hired other guitarists, including Ritenour who performed some of the guitar parts on Pink Floyd's The Wall.

Watching Ritenour's left hand, what was striking was how slender his fingers are - perfectly proportioned to handle the sometimes awkwardly compressed shapes required to properly voice jazz chords on the guitar. Perhaps this explains much of the slick sophistication of his playing.

Conversely, for example, bluesman John Lee Hooker's fingers were like a bunch of bananas, which explains much about his equally distinctive but rather simpler style.

Heartening though the turnout was for Ritenour, I fear it was probably at Allen Youngblood's expense. A lot of the faces I'd expect at Youngblood gigs were absent when he played the same venue the night before, but there for Ritenour.

I'm glad I managed to catch both: Youngblood and his band delivered a performance every bit as good as the show the next night.