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 commissioned to interpret John Cage by Ludwigsburg Festival

About the project: In rehearsing for a performance of John Cage's 'Sonata for Two Voices' (1933) at Issue Project Room last winter, guitarist Marco Cappelli and Marc Ribot made a strange discovery. The two guitarists overcame the gap between the rhythmic complexity of the piece and Mr. Ribot's somewhat limited sight reading skills by 'looping' measures: constantly repeating each difficult passage until it became easier. It was in this way they became aware of a strange fact about John Cage's music that would have probably surprised (and possibly dismayed) the composer himself: John Cage was one funky dude. The resulting project, "Caged Funk: John Cage looped, hi-jacked, detourned, and scratch mixed", is a further exploration of this little known aspect the late composer's work.
Artists: feat. Bernie Worrell keys, Marc Ribot guitar, Marco Cappelli guitar, Brad Jones bass, DJ Logic turntables, JT Lewis - drums
This program will be premiered July 8, 2010 at the Ludwigsburg Festival in Germany.

DAVID HIDALGO & MARC RIBOT: Border Music at VIVID Live curated by Laurie Anderson & Lou Reed

After the success of last summer's collaboration between Marc Ribot and David Hidalgo at the Century of Song festival, the two have been asked to join forces again on June 2 for the VIVID Live Festival at the Sydney Opera House by curators Laurie Anderson and Lou Reed! Marc has also been invited to join the VIVID Live House band, performing on various events between May 31-June 8 during the festival.

About the project:
David Hidalgo is the driving vocal/guitar force of East LA's 'Los Lobos' and Latin Playboys. Marc Ribot (ex Tom Waits ex Lounge Lizards and just plain ex) is the ex leader of "The Prosthetic Cubans" (Los Cubanos Postizos). West Coast meet East Coast, Real meets Prosthetic, and guitar meets guitar in a rocking post roots pan Latin rave up/descarga. This is an exploration of their musical excursions across the borders between cultures, styles and genres.
They're accompanied by cohorts Brad Jones (bass) and Anthony "The Professor" Coleman (keyboards) both original Cubanos Postizos- and Cougar Estrada of Los Lobos.

New recording project w/Bill Frisell, Buddy Miller, Marc Ribot

In the new year, Marc will be headed down to Nashville to record a new country project with living legends Bill Frisell and Buddy Miller!
A special concert at the Belcourt Theater will be held on Jan 13th, 2010 to premiere this new collaboration.

Marc is curator & musical director of this year's Century of Song Festival

Marc was asked to participate in this year's Century of Song Festival (apart of the Ruhr Triennale in Germany) serving as both curator and musical director celebrating the "song" form of the past century. In this 3-part series, he is joined by some of his long time favorite artists and collaborators:

August 15 & 16, 2009
Program 1 - "Heaven & Hell":
Marianne Faithful, Carla Bozulich, Marc Ribot & Friends

September 11 & 12, 2009
Program 2 - "Love & Death":
Iggy Pop & Tine Kindermann, Marc Ribot & Friends

October 10 & 11, 2009
Program 3-American Soul:
David Hidalgo, Juan Medrano Cotito, Marc Ribot & Friends

http://www.ruhrtriennale.de/en/

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.

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