Agreed. Larry, Lee and Chuck, three amazing guitar players, brought their unique style on their time with the band. Lee's style is my favourite for Fourplay, but I also think that has something to do with the fact he was the first one.

Comparing the 3 guitarists really isn't fair, but subjective if one understands the guitar, guitar music, and guitar technique. Ritenour came out of rock idiom and his playing in the 90's here with 4 Play reflects that. But, not everyone is impressed with rock guitar and its very linear and unimaginative soloing/chord voicings, etc. Ritenour is great in his own realm, but for my money, Larry and Chuck were the more sophisticated, out of jazz/rock-fusion molds. Their guitar work with 4 Play was intricate, accentuated tone, careful phrasing, and more jazzy, less musical scale dissonance-oriented soloing. I relished Ritenour's work in the last 30 years.....I personally enjoyed his earlier Hollywood LA sound and collaborations out there, as another commentator already noted. Lee and Dave Grusin touring has been outstanding.....a review of both artists' song books and famous compositions...plus Ritenour discovered a number of great music artists, including Carlos Vega and Patrice Rushen and others, offer them a place on the stage and tour with him. But, for guitar purists, I'd still put Loeb and Carlton up a rung or two on the musical-skill ladder, but to each his own. Another small gripe is that Lee succumbed to nepotism, by kicking out his African-American session drummers off his tours for his offspring......ugh, you can do that, but at the risk of inviting comparisons and experience and sacrificing judgment .......

Well said ❤