Marc Ribot

Marc Ribot
Background information
Born	(1954-05-21) May 21, 1954
Origin	Newark, New Jersey, United States
Genres	Experimental music, alternative rock, free jazz, electronic music, hardcore punk
Occupations	Musician, composer
Instruments	Guitar, vocals, trumpet, banjo, cornet
Associated acts	Tom Waits, Electric Masada, Bar Kokhba Sextet, The Prosthetic Cubans, Spiritual Unity, Ceramic Dog, John Zorn, Elvis Costello, T-Bone Burnett
Website	www.marcribot.com

Marc Ribot (/ˈriːboʊ/; born May 21, 1954) is an American guitarist and composer.

His work has touched on many styles, including no wave, free jazz, rock and Cuban music. Ribot is also known for collaborating with other musicians, most notably Tom Waits, Elvis Costello, Vinicio Capossela, and composer John Zorn.

Biography

Ribot was born in Newark, New Jersey. He has worked extensively as a session guitarist. He has performed and recorded with Tom Waits, John Zorn, David Sylvian, Jack McDuff, Wilson Pickett, The Lounge Lizards, Arto Lindsay, T-Bone Burnett, Medeski, Martin and Wood, Cibo Matto, Elysian Fields, Sam Phillips, Elvis Costello, Tift Merritt, David Poe, Allen Ginsberg, Foetus, Robert Plant & Alison Krauss, Susana Baca, The Black Keys, Stan Ridgway, Vinicio Capossela, Alain Bashung, Lyenn, Hector Zazou, McCoy Tyner, Elton John, Madeleine Peyroux, Marianne Faithfull, Leonid Fedorov, Tonio K, Andres Calamaro, Anarchist Republic of Bzzz, Diana Krall, Mike Patton and others.

Ribot's earliest session work was featured on Tom Waits' Rain Dogs (1985) and helped define Waits' new musical direction. Ribot worked with Waits on many of his following albums including Franks Wild Years (1987), Big Time (1988), Mule Variations (1999), Real Gone (2004), Orphans (2006) and Bad as Me (2011). He has appeared on Elvis Costello's Spike (1989), Mighty Like a Rose (1991), and Kojak Variety (1995). Ribot has appeared on numerous recordings by John Zorn, including many of Zorn's Filmworks recordings, solo performances on Zorn's Masada Guitars (also featuring Bill Frisell and Tim Sparks), and is a member of Zorn's Bar Kokhba Sextet and Electric Masada.

Ribot's first two albums featured the Rootless Cosmopolitans, followed by an album of works by Frantz Casseus 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 (Prosthetic Cubans), featuring compositions by Arsenio Rodríguez.

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 and realizing I wasn't following in George Benson'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 band Secret Chiefs 3. Ribot's most current studio work involves several tracks accompanying the legendary pianist from John Coltrane's group, McCoy Tyner on his late 2008 album and DVD Guitars; which also features work with John Scofield, Bill Frisell, Béla Fleck, and Derek Trucks.

In late 2010, he toured Europe with his band SunShip (Mary Halvorson, 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 to support independent artists' careers.

Marc Ribot in Saalfelden, Austria 2010

Discography

Main article: Marc Ribot discography

• Rootless Cosmopolitans (Island, 1990)
• Requiem for What's His Name (Les Disques du Crepuscule, 1992)
• Marc Ribot Plays Solo Guitar Works of Frantz Casseus (Les Disques du Crepuscule, 1993)
• Shrek (Avant, 1994)
• Subsonic 1: Sounds of a Distant Episode with Shrek (Sub Rosa/Subsonic 1994)
• The Book of Heads (Tzadik, 1995) composed by John Zorn
• Don't Blame Me (DIW, 1995)
• Shoe String Symphonettes (Tzadik, 1997)
• The Prosthetic Cubans (Atlantic, 1998) with Los Cubanos Postizos
• Yo! I Killed Your God (Tzadik, 1999)
• Muy Divertido! (Atlantic, 2000) with Los Cubanos Postizos
• Saints (Atlantic, 2001)
• Inasmuch as Life is Borrowed (Ultima Vez, 2001) limited edition
• Scelsi Morning (Tzadik, 2003)
• Soundtracks Volume 2 (Tzadik, 2003)
• Spiritual Unity (Pi Recordings, 2005)
• Asmodeus: Book of Angels Volume 7 (Tzadik, 2007) composed by John Zorn
• Exercises in Futility (Tzadik, 2008)
• Party Intellectuals (Pi Recordings, 2008) with Ceramic Dog
• Silent Movies (Pi Recordings, 2010)
• Your Turn (Northern Spy, 2013) with Ceramic Dog
• Live at the Village Vanguard (Pi Recordings, 2014) with Henry Grimes and Chad Taylor

Filmography

• Sabbath in Paradise (1998)
• The Soul of a Man (directed by Wim Wenders) (2003)
• A Bookshelf on Top of the Sky: 12 Stories About John Zorn (2004)
• Tom Waits Real Gone Tour DVD bootleg recording (2005)
• The Lost String (directed by Anais Prosaic) (2007)

External links

• Marc Ribot official website
• Marc Ribot bio from Pi Recordings
• Marc Ribot at the Internet Movie Database
• Marc Ribot at AllMusic
• Marc Ribot on Myspace
• Marc Ribot: Using his Voice Interview by Arron Kayce published on February 9, 2004.
• An interview with Ribot by Efren del Valle printed December 24, 2002 on Tomajazz.com
• The Complete Marc Ribot discography – includes all solo work as well as collaborations as a sideman in the projects of other musicians
• Interview with Marc Ribot discussing Albert Ayler's influence on his playing – "Marc Ribot: That's the Way I View It from New York" by Paul Olsen, published March 27, 2006 on Allaboutjazz.com
• Marc Ribot video interview at allaboutjazz.com
• Documentary feature Marc Ribot, the lost string
• Discography