Dear fans and friends,

I wanted to give you all an update before Summer gets underway. There's a lot going on between concerts and recording.

My collaboration album with Dave Grusin for Universal/Decca entitled "Amparo" is now scheduled for release this September. This is the classical crossover project that we worked on for over a year! Guest artists include: James Taylor, Renee Fleming, Joshua Bell, and Chris Botti. The release has been moved back due to some exciting orchestra concerts that are being planned in the US and Japan. More info to come about this soon!

July 12-14 I'll be in Switzerland for the Montreux Jazz Festival where I'll perform as a part of the Quincy Jones Birthday Celebration. I'll also be president of Montreux's International Guitar Competition. Guitarists will be competing from all over the world.

I'll be back in Europe for a short tour July 31 - August 6 with dates in Scotland, England, Germany, Switzerland, and Norway.

For the US fans, I hope to see you at some of the shows including San Francisco, San Diego, Idyllwild, Ft Worth, and Seattle.

I'm also continuing to produce Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band. Guest artists include Chick Corea, Patti Austin, Dave Grusin, and myself. We also did a track sampling Art Tatum's solo piano from 1939. It sounds amazing since the sound was redone with today's technology.

I also want to send a big thanks to our friends in Toronto, Canada for presenting me with the "George Benson Lifetime Achievement Award." They had an award show in March that I could not attend because of my touring, but they were generous enough to give me this special award!

Hope to see you on the road! Best Wishes,

Lee

Check out myspace.com/leeritenour and of course you can always see quite a few of my videos on Youtube.com. Of course I always recommend purchasing my videos for their quality and total viewing experience. My latest DVD from a couple years back, "Overtime," is now available in High Definition DVD, 5.1 Surround Sound.