We'll slip this one in this afternoon, because this is a big time player and I've been looking for an excuse to share this wicked show for a while.
Today's extra-talented New Jersey native has been in more bands and been a part of more recording projects than just about anyone you could name over these last few decades or so.
I first heard of him in the 1990s, as part of several John Zorn projects. How I have never done John Zorn on here is just a mystery for the ages, but there it is.
Anyway he (our birthday guy, not John Zorn... he's a Virgo) is 65 today, born in 1954 and all as he was.
How do you celebrate the birthday of a player as unusual as Marc Ribot? He claims his music is so individuated because although he's left-handed, he learned his instrument right-handed as a kid... left-to-right players -- like Jimi Hendrix, Robert Fripp, and Duane Allman, for instance -- are somewhat rare.
Anyway to celebrate, I have this utterly trance-inducing 75 minutes of mayhem, recorded about five years ago with an all-star cast.
This was one of the concerts behind the Master Musicians of Jajouka tribute record, The Road to Jajouka, and features the mighty Bachir Attar leading the MMoJ alongside a slew of badass Westerners, including 2/3 of Medeski, Martin and Wood and today's hero, who sprays incendiary guitar all over the set with almost no break.
The Master Musicians of Jajouka + Billy Martin, Marc Ribot & friends
45 Deutsches Jazzfestival
HR Sendesaal
Frankfurt, Germany
10.25.2014
01 intro by Bachir Attar & Billy Martin
02 Unidentified Improvisation I
03 Unidentified Improvisation II
04 announcement by Bachir Attar
05 Unidentified Improvisation III
06 Unidentified Improvisation IV
07 Unidentified Improvisation V
Total time: 1:15:07
Bachir Attar - ghaita, lira, gimbre & percussion
Mustapha Attar - ghaita, lira, gimbre & percussion
Mohamed El Attar - ghaita, lira, gimbre & percussion
Abdellah Bokhzar - ghaita, lira, gimbre & percussion
John Medeski - organ & keyboards
Marc Ribot - guitar
Shahzad Ismaily - bass & electronics
Billy Martin - drums
DJ Logic - turntables
Falu - vocals
digital capture of an HR2 digital FM rebroadcast
400 MB FLAC/May 2019 archive link
I shall return towards the month's end with some high voltage Punk Rawk and rebel music, because we don't get into enough of that shit here in Jazz Snob City.
