Founded in 1982 and active through 1996, The Ritz was a Boston-based jazz vocal group that already had an international reputation and three recordings when I joined in 1987. In addition to performing at notable venues and jazz festivals worldwide, I recorded four albums with The Ritz on the Denon label: Movin’ Up (1988), Flying (1989), The Spirit of Christmas (1989) and our final album, Almost Blue (1991), which I also produced and which featured the immortal Clark Terry. Other guest artists on Ritz recordings include Bob Bowlby, Lenny Castro, Luis Conte, Brandon Fields, Chuck Findley, Gary Herbig, Pat Kelly, Russ Freeman and Kirk Whalum. The group's personnel changed over the years, but the members of the group during my tenure were Darryl Bosteels, Sharon Broadley-Martin, Bob Martin, Val Hawk, Chris Humphrey, vocals; Jeff Auger, piano; Les Harris, Jr., drums; Marty Ballou, bass and Fred Haas, alto and tenor sax.  I note, sadly, that Darryl Bosteels died in August 2019 and is dearly missed.

On November 28, 2021, former members of The Ritz performed at the legendary Press Room in Portsmouth, New Hampshire in a reunion tribute to Darryl. It was a wonderful night of music and camaraderie, completely sold out and streamed online!  Yes, there were snafus here and there (for me after 25 years and others even longer), but we had a ball!