Parenting & Family Quote by Lee Ritenour

There is a quiet flex hiding in the plainspoken dad voice here: Lee Ritenour isn’t just telling you his kid can play. He’s positioning Wesley as proof that musical “naturalness” is really discipline, access, and lineage. The timestamps matter - 12 during recording, 13 now - because they turn childhood into a credential. In jazz and studio culture, age can be a novelty act; Ritenour’s phrasing works to make it sound like anything but. “Quite a drummer already” is modest on the surface, but it’s also a stamp of legitimacy from a player whose name carries industry weight.

The line about studying since four quietly normalizes an intense, almost conservatory-level upbringing, suggesting that serious musicianship isn’t a late-blooming passion but a lifelong regimen. That’s not just parental pride; it’s a worldview about craft: start early, stay serious, earn your seat.

Then comes the cultural pivot: “very interested in African percussion.” In the jazz-fusion ecosystem Ritenour comes from, nodding to African percussion signals both roots and range - an appeal to authenticity that counterbalances the slickness people sometimes associate with studio virtuosity. It also functions as a tasteful halo around the project: the record isn’t merely technical, it’s connected to a deeper rhythmic lineage.

Subtext: this album isn’t only a product; it’s a family transmission of rhythm, taste, and values. Ritenour is inviting listeners to hear continuity - not just between tracks, but between generations.