The first time I ever heard Marc Ribot must have been in high school when I listened to Tom Waits' Rain Dogs. That was a great album, but it wasn't pivotal to me or my musical tastes. Years passed without much thought of Ribot. In fact, for a long stretch of time I confused Marc Ribot and Mick Ronson (David Bowie's guitarist) in my head. Then about two years ago I was visiting some friends in New York City. One friend, a good musician that I respect, had mentioned that Marc Ribot was his favorite guitarist.
Later that week I attended a performance of Allen Toussaint's group at the Village Vanguard. Marc Ribot was playing acoustic guitar in this group. I was hoping for some powerful guitar playing from Ribot but was disappointed. He took maybe one solo during the whole set, and his role in the group was strictly supportive. I was left with the impression that Ribot was somewhat of a bland guitarist. When my friend said Ribot was his favorite guitarist, I wondered what the attraction was to Ribot's style.
Two years later (i.e. this past week) I came across a video on youtube of Ribot's group Ceramic Dog.
It's heavy, with gnarly guitar shredding and a ripping rhythm section. I especially love how he and the rhythm section turn the measures inside out. (Turns out the drummer, Ches Smith, also plays in Mary Halvorson's awesome trio.) Finally I was seeing a side of Ribot that spoke to me. If you go back and read older posts here, you'll see that I love heavy guitar solos. So I downloaded Ceramic Dog's album Party Intellectuals. I listened to it and wasn't too thrilled. It's good and has amazing moments, but on the whole I was again left with disappointment. For all the promise his playing had for hitting my sweet spot, there was still a blandness that made the whole album not live up to that promise.
Still, Party Intellectuals sparked my curiousity with Ribot. Then, yesterday, I found that Ribot will be performing at the Cedar Cultural Center in Minneapolis on March 19th. On the Cedar's website they linked to the following video.
This is a rendition of Albert Ayler's song "Ghosts." Here we go! Now this is guitar music that hits me. I looked into Ribot's discography and saw that his 2001 album Saints was entirely solo guitar renditions of songs. I downloaded this album and listened to it three times in a row last night. It's very beautiful and moving music.
Musically, Ribot's playing is a nice contrast with my two favorite guitarists, Joe Morris and Keiji Haino. I love Morris, Haino, and also Derek Bailey to death, but sometimes I crave a guitarist who is a little more anchored to song structure and melodic development. Ribot balances structure with free-wheeling improvisation extraordinarily well. Much more so than the aforementioned guitarists, Ribot follows melodic lines around twists and turns. His sense of melody and structure typically is very skewed and leads into mysterious regions, but his improvisations are coherent and moving. It's amazing how at times when he is playing Ayler tunes he evokes the feeling of Sunny Murray on drums, both in the pulses of rhythm and the vocal moaning.
There's lots to be said about the music of Saints, but you're better off just listening to the album. It's wonderful. I am so grateful that I kept exploring Ribot's music until I found a side of him that speaks to me. May you find some joy in hearing him too.
Later that week I attended a performance of Allen Toussaint's group at the Village Vanguard. Marc Ribot was playing acoustic guitar in this group. I was hoping for some powerful guitar playing from Ribot but was disappointed. He took maybe one solo during the whole set, and his role in the group was strictly supportive. I was left with the impression that Ribot was somewhat of a bland guitarist. When my friend said Ribot was his favorite guitarist, I wondered what the attraction was to Ribot's style.
Two years later (i.e. this past week) I came across a video on youtube of Ribot's group Ceramic Dog.
It's heavy, with gnarly guitar shredding and a ripping rhythm section. I especially love how he and the rhythm section turn the measures inside out. (Turns out the drummer, Ches Smith, also plays in Mary Halvorson's awesome trio.) Finally I was seeing a side of Ribot that spoke to me. If you go back and read older posts here, you'll see that I love heavy guitar solos. So I downloaded Ceramic Dog's album Party Intellectuals. I listened to it and wasn't too thrilled. It's good and has amazing moments, but on the whole I was again left with disappointment. For all the promise his playing had for hitting my sweet spot, there was still a blandness that made the whole album not live up to that promise.
Still, Party Intellectuals sparked my curiousity with Ribot. Then, yesterday, I found that Ribot will be performing at the Cedar Cultural Center in Minneapolis on March 19th. On the Cedar's website they linked to the following video.
This is a rendition of Albert Ayler's song "Ghosts." Here we go! Now this is guitar music that hits me. I looked into Ribot's discography and saw that his 2001 album Saints was entirely solo guitar renditions of songs. I downloaded this album and listened to it three times in a row last night. It's very beautiful and moving music.
Musically, Ribot's playing is a nice contrast with my two favorite guitarists, Joe Morris and Keiji Haino. I love Morris, Haino, and also Derek Bailey to death, but sometimes I crave a guitarist who is a little more anchored to song structure and melodic development. Ribot balances structure with free-wheeling improvisation extraordinarily well. Much more so than the aforementioned guitarists, Ribot follows melodic lines around twists and turns. His sense of melody and structure typically is very skewed and leads into mysterious regions, but his improvisations are coherent and moving. It's amazing how at times when he is playing Ayler tunes he evokes the feeling of Sunny Murray on drums, both in the pulses of rhythm and the vocal moaning.
There's lots to be said about the music of Saints, but you're better off just listening to the album. It's wonderful. I am so grateful that I kept exploring Ribot's music until I found a side of him that speaks to me. May you find some joy in hearing him too.
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