Marc Ribot

Marc Ribot has earned recognition as a guitarist of exceptional ability whose range spans conventional roots traditions and sharp-edged free improvisation, linked primarily by his daring stylistic approach and intense commitment. He entered New York’s downtown experimental circles toward the end of the 1970s, drawing early notice through his role in John Lurie’s Lounge Lizards, labeled a “fake jazz” group, along with multiple collaborations alongside the bold composer John Zorn and performances with assorted R&B ensembles. A durable partnership with Tom Waits began in 1985, complemented by repeated work with Elvis Costello and producer T-Bone Burnett. Independently, Ribot issued several recordings that blended jazz and noise-rock before reaching a larger audience with 1998’s Marc Ribot y Los Cubanos Postizos (The Prosthetic Cubans), an exploration of traditional Cuban repertoire. He has sustained his unpredictable course by issuing solo guitar and film-inspired works on Tzadik while participating in projects such as Live at the Village Vanguard with Henry Grimes and Chad Taylor. In tandem with the 2018 collection of historical protest songs titled Songs of Resistance 1948-2018, he continues to lead the politically oriented punk trio Ceramic Dog, joined by bassist Shahzad Ismaily and drummer Ches Smith, on albums including 2008’s Party Intellectuals, 2017’s YRU Still Here?, and 2023’s Connection.

Born in Newark, New Jersey on May 21, 1954, Ribot began playing guitar during his teenage years and performed locally with rock groups while still in high school. Expanding his musical interests, he studied under Frantz Casseus, the Haitian composer and classical guitarist, later recording several of Casseus’ compositions. Although left-handed, Ribot trained in the right-handed technique, contributing to the robust, forceful character of his playing.

Ribot relocated from Newark to New York City in 1978 and established himself within the downtown experimental community, first as a member of the Realtones and subsequently with John Lurie’s Lounge Lizards. He also became a regular associate of avant-garde composer John Zorn and served as a sideman for soul and R&B artists including Solomon Burke, Wilson Pickett, and Carla Thomas. In 1985 he was enlisted for Tom Waits’ Rain Dogs, initiating an extended collaboration. Acquaintance with producer T-Bone Burnett likewise led to frequent studio appearances on projects involving Elvis Costello, Sam Phillips, John Mellencamp, Robert Plant & Alison Krauss, Diana Krall, Elton John, and Leon Russell. Costello, particularly impressed, recruited him for the road band the Rude Five and featured him on the albums Spike, Mighty Like a Rose, and Kojak Variety.

Ribot’s first recording as a leader arrived with the Rootless Cosmopolitans’ self-titled 1990 debut, which incorporated jazz, rock, and avant-garde elements and included contributions from clarinetist Don Byron and keyboardist Anthony Coleman. Further cross-genre explorations of jazz and noise appeared on 1993’s Requiem for What’s His Name, involving downtown colleagues such as Lounge Lizards saxophonist Roy Nathanson and reedist Ralph Carney. Additional punk, jazz, and fractured blues material surfaced on 1994’s Shrek, with Medeski, Martin & Wood guitarist Chris Wood, bassist Sebastian Steinberg, drummer Jim Pugliese, and percussionist Christine Bard. Returning to solo guitar, Ribot examined haunting jazz standards and stark noise improvisations on 1995’s Don’t Blame Me. That year he also joined guitarist Fred Frith for Sounds of a Distant Episode. Two years later he contributed to Tzadik’s interpretive film-scores series with Shoe String Symphonettes, drawing on obscure films with assistance from guests including John Zorn, Bill Ware, and Curtis Fowlkes.

Wider recognition followed Ribot’s signing with Atlantic and the release of 1998’s Marc Ribot y Los Cubanos Postizos (The Prosthetic Cubans), the first album by his traditional Cuban-influenced ensemble, which interpreted the music of influential Cuban composer Arsenio Rodriguez. Two further Atlantic releases ensued: 2000’s Muy Divertido!, presented as a sequel to “The Prosthetic Cubans,” and Saints, his second solo guitar album fusing jazz and noise-rock.

He maintained ties with Tzadik, issuing 2003’s Scelsi Morning within the label’s new composers series, a second collection of film-inspired works, and the solo guitar album Exercises in Futility, constructed around prompts designed to stimulate improvisation amid futility. A recording relationship with Pi Recordings also developed, yielding an album of Albert Ayler compositions.

In 2008 Ribot introduced his politically charged punk and noise-rock trio Ceramic Dog on Party Intellectuals, issued by Pi Recordings and featuring bassist/singer Shahzad Ismaily and drummer/singer Ches Smith. Subsequent releases included the solo guitar album Silent Movies and the 2014 concert recording Live at Village Vanguard with Henry Grimes and Chad Taylor.

The 2016 album The Young Philadelphians: Live in Tokyo documented his 2014 Tokyo performance with a string ensemble that merged Philly soul traditions and avant-garde jazz. That year he also collaborated with experimental guitarists Elliott Sharp and Mary Halvorson on Err Guitar, released in May 2017. He then rejoined his Ceramic Dog bandmates for the protest punk-jazz follow-up YRU Still Here?. In 2018 he worked with Anti- on Songs of Resistance 1948-2018, another politically themed set featuring guest vocals from Tom Waits, Steve Earle, Meshell Ndegeocello, Syd Straw, and Tift Merritt, among others; the album reached number five on Billboard’s Jazz Albums chart.

Ribot’s 2021 release Hope drew from sessions recorded in May 2020, the first occasion he and his Ceramic Dog collaborators could perform together, albeit in isolated studio spaces, owing to the COVID-19 lockdown. He returned with a trio for the equally forceful and politically oriented 2023 album Connection.