Welcome to the Marc Ribot Homepage

Thank you for visiting the home page of Marc Ribot (pronounced REE-bow). This site is updated regularly with the latest information about what Marc is up to and where you can see him perform.

Marc celebrates his birthday with a week long retrospective May 9-16!

For Marc's 55th birthday, he will be reconvening some old bands and premiering some new over a week long run of shows in various venues around NYC from May 9 - 16. Check out his Tours/Events page for details.

Sat May 9: Brecht Forum
Scelsi Morning w/Marco Cappelli & Ensemble Dissonanzen

Sun May 10: Rose Live Music (Williamsburg, BK)
Los Cubanos Postizos/Cotito/La Cumbiamba eNeYe Mother's Day Matinee!

Tues May 12: The Stone
8PM: Solo
10PM: Shrek/Rootless Cosmopolitans

Wed May 13: Joe's Pub
Spiritual Unity & Marc Ribot Trio (2 sets)

Thurs May 14: The Stone
8PM: Ribot plays the works of Frantz Casseus w/Marco Cappelli
10PM: Sun Ship w/Mary Halvorson, Chad Taylor, Jason Ajemian

Fri May 15 - Le Poisson Rouge
Los Cubanos Postizos/Cotito/La Cumbiamba eNeYe

Sat May 16 - Le Poisson Rouge
Ceramic Dog w/guest Eszter Balint
Young Philadelphians (Jamaaladeen Tacuma, G.Calvin Weston)

Raising Sand Wins 5 Grammy Awards

Robert Plant and Alison Krauss album "Raising Sand" which prominently features Marc Ribot, won 5 Grammy awards including the highest honors of Album Of The Year for Raising Sand and Record Of The Year for "Please Read The Letter".

The Lost String Now Available For Purchase

We are now selling "The Lost String" in the Ribot store!

French Film maker Anais Prosaic's stunning documentary about Marc, New York City, The Downtown Scene, and the intermingling of the three. Compiled from extensive performance and conversational footage shot in 2002 as Marc travels from club to club and country to country. This film explores the variety of Marc's musical universes and his commitment to art itself.

Also with: Anthony Coleman, Brad Jones, EJ Rodriguez, Los Cubanos Postizos, Catherine Janiaux, Christine Bard, Ted Reichman, Ned Rothenberg, Sim Caine, Bruce Cox, Dave Hofstra, Arto Lindsay....and more...

Bonus: 4 solo pieces performed in Pau, France

Film in English with available subtitles in French

Ceramic Dog

We're happy to announce that Ceramic Dog's debut LP "Party Intellectuals" is out now! Visit Pi Recordings to order a copy.

Stay on the look out for a Ceramic Dog European tour in October. Visit the Tours section for periodic updates.

Ceramic Dog
1. chien du faience: expression: frozen with emotion, as in the perfectly still moment before a fight breaks out.
2. Ultimate kitsch object.
3. A free/punk/funk/experimental/psychedelic/post electronica collective, featuring Marc (Cubanos Postizos, John Zorn, Tom Waits, etc etc), plus two of the best young players on the New York/California underground improv/experimental rock scene, Shahzad Ismailly (bass) and Ches Smith (drums)
4. Not a 'project': a real band.

"Marc Ribot's new power trio, filled out by the remarkable versatile rhythm team of bassist Shahzad Ismaily and drummer Ches Smith, is his rawest band in ages." (TimeOut NY)

Ribot On Country Music TV

Yes, you read that correctly. Ribot recently appeared on Country Music Television (CMT Network). As a member of Robert Plant and Allison Krauss' band, Ribot performed in Nashville on CMT's Crossroads program. For more information, see here: http://www.cmt.com/shows/dyn/cmt_crossroads/127935/episode.jhtml

The Case For New Music in New York

Thank you to everyone who has written to express support for actions taken at Tonic to publicize the need for a local-government funded performance space in New York City. For more information about the protest at Tonic and the efforts taking place for protection of a creative New York, please visit:

http://takeittothebridge.com/forums/index.php

Spiritual Unity

What is Spiritual Unity? Spiritual Unity is a group formed by Marc Ribot dedicated to re-creating and re-imagining the music of the great saxophonist Albert Ayler, one of the pillars of modern jazz.To Ribot, playing Ayler's music is a "ritual process, through improvisation, of experiencing and presenting the rawest moment of musical creation."

Spiritual Unity features the great bassist Henry Grimes, who played on many of Ayler's seminal recordings from the 1960s. After Grimes returned to the jazz scene in 2003, Ribot knew that the time had come to realize his long-time dream of forming a collective band to play this music. This is only the second release to feature Grimes since his return to music. Spiritual Unity also features eclectic trumpeter Roy Campbell and drummer Chad Taylor, best known for his work with the Chicago Underground.

SU's album is available in the store section of this website. The album features one original by Ribot and four songs by Ayler. Ribot's "Invocation" opens the album and is exactly that - an invocation of the Ayler spirit. This is followed by "Spirits," one of Ayler's catchy and instantly recognizable tunes. "Truth is Marching In" is next, another of Ayler's signature tracks, featuring a long, mournful intro that suddenly breaks into a warped march. This is followed by the more spacious "Saints." The album closer "Bells," recorded live at Tonic the night before the studio session, proves that the band succeeds both live and in the studio.

Visit the Ribot Store

Check out Marc's store now accepting credit cards and international orders. Enjoy!

Ribot On Film

You can hear Marc's compositon and playing in some recent films Marc performed on the score of "Walk The Line," the Johnny Cash biopic. Martin Scorcese's "The Departed" and "Everything Is Illuminated," the motion picture version of the best selling novel by Jonathan Safran Foer. Additionally, Marc composed the score for the film "Drunkboat" featuring John Malkovich and John Goodman. Release date TBD.

Marc featured in Perfect Sound Forever

Marc is featured in the latest edition of Perfect Sound Forever, in the article "Holy Ghosts: Chasin The Masters". Read it online HERE.