Marc Ribot
Encyclopedia
Marc Ribot is an American guitarist
Guitarist
A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...

 and composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

.

His own work has touched on many styles, including no wave
No Wave
No Wave was a short-lived but influential underground music, film, performance art, video, and contemporary art scene that had its beginnings during the mid-1970s in New York City. The term No Wave is in part satirical word play rejecting the commercial elements of the then-popular New Wave genre...

, free jazz
Free jazz
Free jazz is an approach to jazz music that was first developed in the 1950s and 1960s. Though the music produced by free jazz pioneers varied widely, the common feature was a dissatisfaction with the limitations of bebop, hard bop, and modal jazz, which had developed in the 1940s and 1950s...

, and Cuban music. Ribot is also known for collaborating with other musicians, most notably Tom Waits
Tom Waits
Thomas Alan "Tom" Waits is an American singer-songwriter, composer, and actor. Waits has a distinctive voice, described by critic Daniel Durchholz as sounding "like it was soaked in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months, and then taken outside and run over with a car."...

, Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello , born Declan Patrick MacManus, is an English singer-songwriter. He came to prominence as an early participant in London's pub rock scene in the mid-1970s and later became associated with the punk/New Wave genre. Steeped in word play, the vocabulary of Costello's lyrics is broader...

, and composer John Zorn
John Zorn
John Zorn is an American avant-garde composer, arranger, record producer, saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist. Zorn is a prolific artist: he has hundreds of album credits as performer, composer, or producer...

.

Biography

Ribot was born in Newark, New Jersey
Newark, New Jersey
Newark is the largest city in the American state of New Jersey, and the seat of Essex County. As of the 2010 United States Census, Newark had a population of 277,140, maintaining its status as the largest municipality in New Jersey. It is the 68th largest city in the U.S...

. He has worked extensively as a session guitarist. He has performed and recorded with Tom Waits
Tom Waits
Thomas Alan "Tom" Waits is an American singer-songwriter, composer, and actor. Waits has a distinctive voice, described by critic Daniel Durchholz as sounding "like it was soaked in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months, and then taken outside and run over with a car."...

, John Zorn
John Zorn
John Zorn is an American avant-garde composer, arranger, record producer, saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist. Zorn is a prolific artist: he has hundreds of album credits as performer, composer, or producer...

, David Sylvian
David Sylvian
David Sylvian is an English singer-songwriter and musician who came to prominence in the late 1970s as the lead vocalist and main songwriter in the group Japan...

, Jack McDuff
Jack McDuff
"Brother" Jack McDuff was an American jazz organist and organ trio bandleader who was most prominent during the hard bop and soul jazz era of the 1960s, often performing with an organ trio.-Career:...

, Wilson Pickett
Wilson Pickett
Wilson Pickett was an American R&B/Soul singer and songwriter.A major figure in the development of American soul music, Pickett recorded over 50 songs which made the US R&B charts, and frequently crossed over to the US Billboard Hot 100...

, The Lounge Lizards
The Lounge Lizards
The Lounge Lizards are a jazz group formed in 1978 by saxophone player John Lurie.Initially a tongue in cheek "fake jazz" combo, drawing on punk rock and no wave as much as jazz, The Lounge Lizards have since become respected for their creative and distinctive sound.-History:Lounge Lizards were...

, Arto Lindsay
Arto Lindsay
Arthur Morgan Lindsay is an American guitarist, singer, record producer and experimental composer. He is a 1974 graduate of Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Florida....

, T-Bone Burnett
T-Bone Burnett
Joseph Henry Burnett , widely known as T-Bone Burnett, is an American musician, songwriter, and soundtrack and record producer.He was a guitarist in Bob Dylan's band on the Rolling Thunder Revue...

, Medeski, Martin and Wood, Cibo Matto
Cibo Matto
Cibo Matto are a New York City-based band formed by two Japanese women, Yuka Honda and Miho Hatori, in 1994...

, Elysian Fields
Elysian Fields
-General use:* Elysium, in Greek mythology, the final resting places of the souls of the heroic and the virtuous- Places :* Elysian Fields, Hoboken, New Jersey, site of the first organized baseball game* Elysian Fields Avenue, New Orleans* Elysian Fields, Texas...

, Sam Phillips
Sam Phillips (singer)
Leslie Ann Phillips, aka Sam Phillips is an American singer and a songwriter.-Biography:Phillips was born in Glendale, California. She began her musical career as a vocalist in the early 1980s, singing background parts for Christian artists Mark Heard, Randy Stonehill and others...

, Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello , born Declan Patrick MacManus, is an English singer-songwriter. He came to prominence as an early participant in London's pub rock scene in the mid-1970s and later became associated with the punk/New Wave genre. Steeped in word play, the vocabulary of Costello's lyrics is broader...

, David Poe, Allen Ginsberg
Allen Ginsberg
Irwin Allen Ginsberg was an American poet and one of the leading figures of the Beat Generation in the 1950s. He vigorously opposed militarism, materialism and sexual repression...

, Foetus
Foetus (band)
Foetus is the primary musical outlet of industrial music pioneer J. G. Thirlwell. Until 1995 the band underwent various name changes, all including the word foetus. Monikers adopted at different times include Foetus Under Glass, You've Got Foetus On Your Breath and Scraping Foetus Off The Wheel...

, Robert Plant
Robert Plant
Robert Anthony Plant, CBE is an English singer and songwriter best known as the vocalist and lyricist of the iconic rock band Led Zeppelin. He has also had a successful solo career...

 & Alison Krauss
Alison Krauss
Alison Maria Krauss is an American bluegrass-country singer, songwriter and fiddler. She entered the music industry at an early age, winning local contests by the age of ten and recording for the first time at fourteen. She signed with Rounder Records in 1985 and released her first solo album in...

, Susana Baca
Susana Baca
Susana Esther Baca de la Colina is a prominent Peruvian singer-songwriter; two-times Latin Grammy Award winner. She has been a key figure in the revival of Afro-Peruvian music within Peru....

, The Black Keys
The Black Keys
The Black Keys are an American rock duo consisting of vocalist/guitarist Dan Auerbach and drummer/producer Patrick Carney. The band was formed in Akron, Ohio, in 2001. As of October 2011, the band has sold over 2 million albums in the U.S....

, Stan Ridgway
Stan Ridgway
Stanard 'Stan' Ridgway is an American multi-instrumentalist singer-songwriter known for his distinctive voice, dramatic lyrical narratives, and eclectic solo albums and was the original lead singer of the band Wall of Voodoo...

, Vinicio Capossela
Vinicio Capossela
Vinicio Capossela is an Italian singer-songwriter. His style is strongly influenced by US singer and songwriter Tom Waits , though it also draws from the traditions of Italian folk music...

, Alain Bashung
Alain Bashung
Alain Bashung was a French singer, songwriter and actor.- Youth :Alain Bashung was the son of a Breton factory worker and French Kabyle father, whom he never knew. His mother remarried, and at the age of one, Bashung was sent to Strasbourg to live with his new stepfather's parents...

, Lyenn, Hector Zazou
Hector Zazou
Hector Zazou was a prolific French composer and record producer who worked with, produced, and collaborated with an international array of recording artists...

, McCoy Tyner
McCoy Tyner
McCoy Tyner is a jazz pianist from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, known for his work with the John Coltrane Quartet and a long solo career.-Early life:...

, Elton John
Elton John
Sir Elton Hercules John, CBE, Hon DMus is an English rock singer-songwriter, composer, pianist and occasional actor...

, Madeline Peyroux, Marianne Faithfull
Marianne Faithfull
Marianne Evelyn Faithfull is an award-winning English singer, songwriter and actress whose career has spanned five decades....

, Leonid Fedorov, Tonio K
Tonio K
Tonio K. is an American singer/songwriter who has released eight albums. His songs have been recorded by Al Green, Aaron Neville, Burt Bacharach, Bonnie Raitt, Chicago, Wynonna Judd and Vanessa Williams...

, Andres Calamaro
Andrés Calamaro
Andrés Calamaro , is an Argentine musician, composer and Latin Grammy winner. His former band Los Rodríguez was a major success in Spain in the 1990s. He became one of the main icons of the Argentine rock in the last two decades and has sold over 1.3 million copies.-Abuelos de la Nada:Calamaro was...

, Anarchist Republic of Bzzz and others.

Ribot's earliest session work was featured on Tom Waits' Rain Dogs
Rain Dogs
Rain Dogs is the 9th album by American singer-songwriter Tom Waits, released in August 1985 on Island Records. A loose concept album about "the urban dispossessed" of New York City, Rain Dogs is generally considered the middle album of a trilogy that includes Swordfishtrombones and Franks Wild...

(1985) and helped define Waits' new musical direction. Ribot worked with Waits on many of his following albums including Franks Wild Years
Franks Wild Years
Franks Wild Years is an album by Tom Waits, released 1987 on Island Records. Subtitled "Un Operachi Romantico in Two Acts", the album contains songs written by Waits and collaborators for a play of the same name...

(1987), Mule Variations
Mule Variations
-Related promo CD:As a promotional limited offer, an EP titled Hold On was later released with two of the tracks from the Mule Variations album plus two previously unreleased tracks...

(1999), Real Gone
Real Gone
Real Gone is an album by Tom Waits, released October 3, 2004 in Europe, and October 5 in United States on the ANTI- label.The album features some of the few political songs Waits has ever written, the most explicit being "Day After Tomorrow", a song Waits has described as an "elliptical" protest...

(2004) and Bad as Me
Bad as Me
Bad as Me is the seventeenth studio album by American rock musician Tom Waits, released on October 21, 2011 by ANTI- Records. The album is known to have been recorded as early as February 2011 and was officially announced for release on August 23, 2011 on Waits' official web site and various social...

(2011). He has appeared on Elvis Costello's Spike
Spike (Elvis Costello album)
Spike is the 12th studio album by the British rock singer and songwriter Elvis Costello, released on and compact disc as Warner Brothers 25848. It was his first album for the label. It peaked at #5 on the UK album chart, and at #32 on the Billboard 200....

, Mighty Like a Rose
Mighty Like a Rose
Mighty Like A Rose is the 13th studio album by the British rock singer and songwriter Elvis Costello, released in 1991 on compact disc as Warner Brothers 26575. The title is presumably a reference to the pop standard "Mighty Lak' a Rose", and although that song does not appear on the album, the...

(1991), and Kojak Variety
Kojak Variety
Kojak Variety is a 1995 covers album by Elvis Costello. "Days" had previously appeared on the album Until the End of the World, the 1991 soundtrack to Wim Wenders' film of the same name.-Track listing:# "Strange" – 2:39...

(1995). Ribot has appeared on numerous recordings by John Zorn
John Zorn
John Zorn is an American avant-garde composer, arranger, record producer, saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist. Zorn is a prolific artist: he has hundreds of album credits as performer, composer, or producer...

, including many of Zorn's Filmworks recordings, solo performances on Zorn's Masada Guitars
Masada Guitars
Masada Anniversary Edition Vol. 1: Masada Guitars is the first album in a series of five releases celebrating the 10th anniversary of John Zorn's Masada songbook project.-History:...

(also featuring Bill Frisell
Bill Frisell
William Richard "Bill" Frisell is an American guitarist and composer.One of the leading guitarists in jazz since the late 1980s, Frisell's eclectic music touches on progressive folk, classical music, country music, noise and more...

 and Tim Sparks
Tim Sparks
Tim Sparks is an American acoustic guitar player, singer, arranger and composer.- Biography:Raised in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, he was given his first guitar when a bout of encephalitis kept him out of school for a year...

), and is a member of Zorn's Bar Kokhba Sextet
Bar Kokhba Sextet
Bar Kokhba Sextet brings together six core members of the Masada family under the leadership of John Zorn. The music act is a dynamic powerhouse full of mysticism and intoxicating improvisation from New York's best downtown artists which includes Cyro Baptista on percussion, Marc Ribot on guitar,...

 and Electric Masada .
Ribot's first two albums featured The Rootless Cosmopolitans, followed by an album of works by Frantz Casseus
Frantz Casseus
Frantz Casseus was a Haitian guitarist and composer.Although born and raised in Port-au-Prince, Haiti he spent most of his adult life in the United States. His music maintained a focus on Haitian folk forms, which he incorporated into his recordings and his published compositions...

 for solo guitar. Further releases found him working in a variety of band and solo contexts including two albums with his self-described "dance band", Marc Ribot y Los Cubanos Postizos (The Prosthetic Cubans), featuring compositions by Arsenio Rodríguez
Arsenio Rodríguez
Arsenio Rodríguez was a Cuban musician who played the tres , reorganized the conjunto and developed the son montuno, and other Afro-Cuban rhythms in the 1940s and 50s...

.

Ribot admitted to Guitar Player a relatively limited technical facility due to learning to play right-handed despite being left-handed: "That's a real limit, one that caused me a lot of grief when I was working with Jack McDuff
Jack McDuff
"Brother" Jack McDuff was an American jazz organist and organ trio bandleader who was most prominent during the hard bop and soul jazz era of the 1960s, often performing with an organ trio.-Career:...

 and realizing I wasn't following in George Benson
George Benson
George Benson is a ten Grammy Award winning American musician, whose production career began at the age of twenty-one as a jazz guitarist....

's footsteps. I couldn't be a straight-ahead jazz contender if you held a gun to my head, but that begs the question of whether I would want to be one."

He currently performs and records with his group Marc Ribot's Ceramic Dog with bassist Shahzad Ismaily and drummer Ches Smith of the avant-garde
Avant-garde
Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....

 band Secret Chiefs 3
Secret Chiefs 3
Secret Chiefs 3 is an instrumental rock group led by guitarist/composer Trey Spruance . Their studio recordings and tours have featured different line-ups, as the group performs a wide range of musical styles including surf rock, Persian, Arab, Indian, death metal, film music, electronic music,...

. Ribot's most current studio work involves several tracks accompanying the legendary pianist from John Coltrane
John Coltrane
John William Coltrane was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Working in the bebop and hard bop idioms early in his career, Coltrane helped pioneer the use of modes in jazz and later was at the forefront of free jazz...

's group, McCoy Tyner
McCoy Tyner
McCoy Tyner is a jazz pianist from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, known for his work with the John Coltrane Quartet and a long solo career.-Early life:...

 on his late 2008 album and DVD Guitars; which also features work with John Scofield
John Scofield
John Scofield , often referred to as "Sco," is an American jazz guitarist and composer, who has played and collaborated with Miles Davis, Dave Liebman, Joe Henderson, Charles Mingus, Joey Defrancesco, Herbie Hancock, Pat Metheny, Bill Frisell, Pat Martino, Mavis Staples, Phil Lesh, Billy Cobham,...

, Bill Frisell
Bill Frisell
William Richard "Bill" Frisell is an American guitarist and composer.One of the leading guitarists in jazz since the late 1980s, Frisell's eclectic music touches on progressive folk, classical music, country music, noise and more...

, Béla Fleck
Béla Fleck
Béla Anton Leoš Fleck is an American banjo player. Widely acknowledged as one of the world's most innovative and technically proficient banjo players, he is best known for his work with the bands New Grass Revival and Béla Fleck and the Flecktones.-Early life and career details:Fleck was born in...

, and Derek Trucks
Derek Trucks
Derek Trucks is a Grammy Award-winning, American guitarist, songwriter, and record producer. He founded The Derek Trucks Band and worked as a session musician when he was still in his early teens. Throughout those teenage years, he toured with The Allman Brothers Band primarily as a slide...

.

In late 2010, he toured Europe with his band SunShip (Mary Halvorson
Mary Halvorson
Mary Halvorson is a guitarist from Boston, Massachusetts, currently living in Brooklyn, NY. She is a 2002 graduate of Wesleyan University. She has performed with many artists, including Anthony Braxton, Jessica Pavone, Taylor Ho Bynum and Trevor Dunn's Trio-Convulsant. As of 2008, she leads a trio...

, Chad Taylor, Jason Ajemian).

A biographical documentary film about Marc Ribot was made, called The Lost String.

Ribot was also a judge for the 6th annual Independent Music Awards
The Independent Music Awards
The Independent Music Awards is an international program that honors top-ranked independent artists and releases in more than 50 Album, Song, Music Video and Design categories....

 to support independent artists' careers.

Discography

  • Rootless Cosmopolitans
    Rootless Cosmopolitans
    -Track listing:# "I Should Care" – 1:17# "Shortly After Takeoff" – 4:14# "The Wind Cries Mary" – 5:01# "Friendly Ghosts" – 5:20...

    (1990)
  • Requiem for What's His Name
    Requiem for What's His Name
    Requiem for What's His Name is the second album by Marc Ribot & The Rootless Comopolitans. It was released on the Belgian label Les Disques du Crepuscule in 1992...

    (1992)
  • Marc Ribot Plays Solo Guitar Works of Frantz Casseus
    Marc Ribot Plays Solo Guitar Works of Frantz Casseus
    Marc Ribot Plays Solo Guitar Works of Frantz Casseus is a 1993 album of solo guitar works by Frantz Casseus recorded by Marc Ribot and released on the Belgian label, Les Disques du Crepuscule. Ribot studied classical guitar under Casseus who fused the European classical tradition with his native...

    (1993)
  • Shrek
    Shrek (album)
    Shrek is a 1994 album by Marc Ribot. It was recorded at Low Blood Studios in New York City and released on the Japanese Avant label.-Reception:...

    (1994)
  • The Book of Heads (1995)
  • Don't Blame Me
    Don't Blame Me (album)
    Don't Blame Me is a 1995 album of solo guitar recorded by Marc Ribot and released on the Japanese DIW label. It features several interpretations of jazz standards, showtunes, and modern jazz compositions as well as three improvisations by Ribot.-Reception:...

    (1995)
  • Shoe String Symphonettes
    Shoe String Symphonettes
    Shoe String Symphonettes is a 1997 album of film music by Marc Ribot released on Tzadik Records.-Reception:The Allmusic review by Sean Cooper awarded the album 3 stars stating "Symphonettes features some of Ribot's most compelling work to date, both creatively augmenting the originals and sketching...

    (1997)
  • The Prosthetic Cubans
    The Prosthetic Cubans
    The Prosthetic Cubans is a studio album recorded in New York City by Marc Ribot with Los Cubanos Postizos and features compositions by Arsenio Rodríguez...

    (1998)
  • Yo! I Killed Your God
    Yo! I Killed Your God
    Yo! I Killed Your God is a concept album by Marc Ribot, recorded live between 1992 and 1994. It was released May 18, 1999 on Tzadik Records.-Reception:...

    (1999)
  • Muy Divertido!
    Muy Divertido!
    ¡Muy Divertido! is a studio album recorded in New York City by Marc Ribot with Los Cubanos Postizos. It was released April 25, 2000 on Atlantic Records.-Reception:...

    (2000)
  • Saints
    Saints (Marc Ribot album)
    Saints is a 2001 album of solo guitar recorded by Marc Ribot. It features several interpretations of compositions by Albert Ayler, as well as traditional spirituals, jazz standards, showtunes, and a song by The Beatles.-Reception:...

    (2001)
  • Inasmuch as Life Is Borrowed (2001)
  • Scelsi Morning
    Scelsi Morning
    -Reception:The Allmusic review by Sean Westergaard states "Taken as a whole, Scelsi Morning is not really an easy listen , but it certainly is impressive".-Track listing:All compositions by Marc Ribot....

    (2003)
  • Soundtracks Volume 2
    Soundtracks Volume 2
    Soundtracks Volume 2 is a 2003 album of film music by Marc Ribot released on Tzadik Records.-Reception:The Allmusic review by Sean Westergaard states "The already eclectic Marc Ribot may have released his widest-reaching album to date with Soundtracks, Vol. 2...

    (2003)
  • Spiritual Unity
    Spiritual Unity (Marc Ribot album)
    Spiritual Unity is a 2005 album by Marc Ribot released on Pi Records. The album features compositions by Albert Ayler who Ribot identifies as a significant influence...

    (2005)
  • Asmodeus: Book of Angels Volume 7
    Asmodeus: Book of Angels Volume 7
    Asmodeus: Book of Angels Volume 7 is an album by Marc Ribot performing compositions from John Zorn's second Masada book, The Book of Angels.-Track listing:All compositions are by John Zorn.# "Kalmiya" – 4:41# "Yezriel" – 7:26# "Kezef" – 2:32...

    (2007)
  • Exercises in Futility
    Exercises in Futility
    Exercises in Futility is a 2008 album of solo guitar recorded by Marc Ribot and released on Tzadik Records' Composer Series. It features compositions that Ribot wrote as "setups for improvising" that "teach guitarists how to play with and in spite of futility".-Track listing:All compositions are by...

    (2008)
  • Party Intellectuals
    Party Intellectuals
    Party Intellectuals is the debut album by jazz fusion trio Marc Ribot's Ceramic Dog. It was produced by Joel Hamilton and released June 24, 2008 on Pi Recordings.-Reception:...

    (2008)
  • Silent Movies
    Silent Movies
    Silent Movies are 13 solo guitar compositions by Marc Ribot released September 28, 2010 on Pi Recordings.-Reception:The Allmusic review by Thom Jurek awarded the album 4 stars stating "For those interested in one of the more compelling and quietly provocative and graceful guitar records of 2010,...

    (2010)

Filmography

  • Sabbath in Paradise
    Sabbath in Paradise
    Sabbath in Paradise is a documentary film by Claudia Heuermann examining contemporary Jewish musical culture in New York's avant garde Jazz scene in the 1990s. It features concert footage and interviews with Anthony Coleman, Marc Ribot, Andy Statman, David Krakauer, Frank London, John Zorn and...

    (1998)
  • The Soul of a Man (directed by Wim Wenders
    Wim Wenders
    Ernst Wilhelm "Wim" Wenders is a German film director, playwright, author, photographer and producer.-Early life:Wenders was born in Düsseldorf. He graduated from high school in Oberhausen in the Ruhr area. He then studied medicine and philosophy in Freiburg and Düsseldorf...

    )
    (2003)
  • A Bookshelf on Top of the Sky: 12 Stories About John Zorn
    A Bookshelf on Top of the Sky: 12 Stories About John Zorn
    A Bookshelf on Top of the Sky: 12 Stories About John Zorn is a documentary film on avant garde composer and musician John Zorn directed by Claudia Heuermann. It features performances of a range of Zorn's music and includes appearances by Joey Baron, Greg Cohen, Dave Douglas, Fred Frith, Ikue Mori,...

    (2004)
  • Tom Waits
    Tom Waits
    Thomas Alan "Tom" Waits is an American singer-songwriter, composer, and actor. Waits has a distinctive voice, described by critic Daniel Durchholz as sounding "like it was soaked in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months, and then taken outside and run over with a car."...

     Real Gone Tour
    Real Gone Tour
    The Real Gone Tour was the Tom Waits tour in support of his October 2004 release of the album Real Gone.-Personnel:*Tom Waits - vocals, piano, percussion, guitar*Larry Taylor - upright bass*Marc Ribot - guitar*Bryan "Brain" Mantia - drums...

     DVD
    DVD
    A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....

     bootleg recording
    Bootleg recording
    A bootleg recording is an audio or video recording of a performance that was not officially released by the artist or under other legal authority. The process of making and distributing such recordings is known as bootlegging...

    (2005)
  • The Lost String
    The Lost String
    The Lost String is a documentary film on American alternative guitarist Marc Ribot directed by French film maker Anaïs Prosaïc.- Synopsis :...

     (directed by Anais Prosaic)
    (2007)

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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