Earth Run
Studio album by Lee Ritenour
Released	April 1986
Studio	Starlight Studio, Burbank, California
Genre	Jazz fusion, smooth jazz
Length	44:28
Label	GRP
Producer	Lee Ritenour Greg Mathieson Dave Grusin Larry Rosen
Lee Ritenour chronology
Harlequin (1985) Earth Run (1986) Portrait (1987)

Earth Run is the fifteenth studio album by jazz guitarist Lee Ritenour, released in April 1986 through GRP Records.^[1] The album reached number ten on the Billboard Jazz Albums chart in the United States^[2][3] and received a Grammy Award nomination for Grammy Award for Best Jazz Fusion Performance, Vocal or Instrumental. The title track was also nominated for Best Instrumental Composition.^[4]

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[1]

Richard S. Ginell at AllMusic awarded Earth Run 2.5 stars out of 5, calling it "a more interesting record than most of its immediate predecessors" and noting the "peculiarly fuzzy, futuristic sound" of Ritenour's SynthAxe guitar synthesizer (as depicted on the cover art; one of nine different guitars used on the album). He also listed "The Sauce" and the cover of Herbie Hancock's "Butterfly" as highlights.

Track listing

Personnel

• Lee Ritenour – arrangements (1-3, 5-9), acoustic guitar (1), electric guitars (1, 3, 5-7), guitar melody and solo (1, 2, 4, 8), SynthAxe (1-4, 6, 8), SynthAxe with Oberheim and Yamaha synthesizers (1, 2, 4, 8), electric classical guitar (2, 4-6, 8, 9)
• Dave Grusin – keyboards (1, 2, 4, 6, 9), arrangements (2, 4, 7), synth bass (3), acoustic piano (8)
• Marcus Ryle – SynthAxe programming (1, 2), synthesizer programming (7)
• Larry Williams – synthesizers (1), SynthAxe programming (1, 2), horns (1), synthesizer programming (3, 5)
• David Foster – keyboards (3), synth bass (3), arrangements (3)
• Don Grusin – synthesizers (4), keyboards (7), synthesizer programming (7)
• Greg Mathieson – keyboards (5), synth bass (5), arrangements (5)
• Casey Young – synthesizer programming (5)
• Jimmy Johnson – bass (1, 4, 7, 9)
• Abraham Laboriel – bass (2, 6)
• Carlos Vega – drums (1-3, 5-7, 9)
• Harvey Mason – drums (8)
• Paulinho da Costa – percussion (2-9)
• Ernie Watts – tenor saxophone (1, 4)
• Jerry Hey – horns (1)
• Tom Scott – Lyricon (9)
• Phil Perry – lead vocals (3)
• Maurice White – vocals (3)
• Tommy Funderburk – vocals (3)

Production

• Dave Grusin – executive producer
• Larry Rosen – executive producer
• Lee Ritenour – producer, additional recording
• Greg Mathieson – producer (5)
• Don Murray – recording, mixing, digital editing
• Terry Bowen – second engineer, additional recording
• CMS Digital (Pasadena, California) – editing location
• Wally Traugott – mastering at Capitol Studios (Hollywood, California)
• Andy Baltimore – creative direction, album design
• David Gibb – album design
• Dan Serrano – album design
• Dario Campanile – front cover oil painting
• Victoria Pearson – photography
• Shankman/DeBlasio – management

Charts