The Smiley Smile Message Board

Just got some very sad news that musician Lyle Ritz has passed away. His contributions to Beach Boys music and Brian Wilson's productions are legendary, a true musician's musician, a terrific studio bassist (electric and upright) and an innovator on ukulele. More info to follow as it comes in.

RIP Lyle. In memoriam, "Diamond Head" with Lyle on uke...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zxcQt1ATvA (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zxcQt1ATvA)

For those unfamiliar with his other work, when he wasn't playing bass in the LA studios on any number of legendary sessions, this is what he was doing on the ukulele, which amounts to basically working with a whole new chord vocabulary on the instrument and innovating new sounds. The beautiful "Polka Dots And Moonbeams" from one of Lyle's solo jazz albums:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HDsgPHX-aQ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HDsgPHX-aQ)

Some of my all-time favorite session tapes to listen to for pure enjoyment have Lyle working with Brian, either in 1966 in general or on various Smile sessions.

There is one in particular where Lyle lights up his pipe, and as the smell of the pipe smoke starts to waft through the studio to the other musicians, they start asking what's that smell or whatever else, then start cracking jokes and saying "LYLE!" and all this good stuff.

Here is Lyle talking about Brian's sessions from the Wrecking Crew film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93lduXoNuCE (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93lduXoNuCE)

sorry to hear this.
I own several of Lyle's jazz ukulele CDs... he was a trailblazer in that regard and a mega talent.

I try and get through the Little Pad chords every time I pick up a uke.
thanks Lyle!

Oh, no.

I got a strange feeling when I saw this. I hope he's at peace now wherever he is. The records he played were all that much better cause he played on them.

Brian & Lyle c. 1967
(http://www.fineprintheroes.com/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=855&g2_serialNumber=11)

Very sorry to hear the world has lost another great talent. R.I.P., Lyle, and thanks for all the great sounds...this very afternoon, I was digging his upright bass part on the "organ bridge" of "Good Vibrations"...

Another legendary talent has left us. RIP Lyle :(

He was 87. Very sad news all the same. To quote Kimosabe on a uke site, "We've lost your loving feeling". Rest in peace, sir.

https://youtu.be/NONMSNzLhHU

(http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n295/guitarfool2002/lyle%20ritz_zps2hjugdbr.jpg)

Thanks so much for posting these wonderful links.  Great stuff.  Lyle Ritz will be missed.

Rest in peace, Lyle.

And thank you for the music.

I was listening to some of Lyle's jazz uke recordings, and knowing more details about his connection to Barney Kessel I can hear more of what drew Barney to Lyle's playing. The story told by Lyle and I guess others is that Barney heard Lyle playing those unique jazz arrangements on the uke and signed him to a recording contract, that was the power Barney had in the 50's in terms of the jazz world. Unfortunately Lyle's albums didn't sell too well in the mainstream, which led him to move to LA and take up session work. So that connection to Barney Kessel makes sense now - Before there was a "Wrecking Crew", Barney had already hit the studio scene and was playing sessions besides his own busy schedule. It would explain how Lyle may have gotten into that scene - It was not easy to break in without having some connection. And the rest is history.

On the old Classic Sessions blog site I documented that Cher session from '66, which shows Barney playing archtop and Lyle playing his P-Bass at Gold Star, and when I thought I had that researched to the end point, there appears another backstory - Lyle and Barney in the 50's.

But anyway, check out Lyle's recordings, especially his arrangements of the jazz standards like the one I posted above. Lyle sounds like he was aiming for much the same thing as Barney in his own guitar arrangements in the 50's, most notably with Julie London on "Julie Is Her Name" - with the piano-less group that relied on the guitar for the main chord accompaniment. On Lyle's records, those standards especially, he's using those thick voicings with his chord melody work, and it really isn't what was expected from a uke. Others like Roy Smeck and any number of Hawaiian uke masters had been doing similar things, but the sophistication and the "touch" Lyle brought to that instrument is otherworldly in a jazz context.

It is a very heartwarming thing to hear that among the uke community of players, he was in the upper echelon of the all-time best on that instrument, and he was able to know and enjoy his status later in life after his original albums didn't catch on originally. In Hawaii, among musicians, Lyle and his albums were tops. A neat couple of final chapters to his story.