marc ribot — Jazz Album Reviews — JazzTrail | NY Jazz Scene | Album Reviews

Label: Pi Recordings, 2026

Personnel - Marc Ribot: guitar; James Brandon lewis: tenor saxophone (#1,6); Brian Settles: tenor saxophone (#3); Briggan Krauss: alto saxophone (#2,4,5); Hilliard Greene: bass (#1,3,6); Sebastian Steinberg: bass (#2,4,5); Chad Taylor: drums, percussion.

Three years after the excellent Connection, created with his premier trio Ceramic Dog, and on the heels of last year’s vocal-centered album Map of a Blue City, guitarist and composer Marc Ribot returns with a new iteration of his acclaimed quartet Spiritual Unity (mainly dedicated to the music of Albert Ayler), which featured the peculiar bassist Henry Grimes, the unchained trumpeter Roy Campbell Jr., and the powerhouse drummer Chad Taylor. The former two have passed away, but the latter still holds the rhythm chair of a mutable quartet that alternates saxophonists and bassists across two different sections. The album title, Hurry Red Telephone, was taken from Richard Siken’s autobiographical poem “Several Tremendous”, which described his efforts to rebuild his ability to write and speak while recovering from a stroke.

“New Monsters” is a 15-minute odyssey featuring the compulsive bagpipe sounds of David Watson in a Scottish-style avant-jazz foray complemented by electric guitar, Hilliard Greene’s droning arco bass, and Taylor’s quick, toms-focused drum runs with cymbal color. Saxophonist James Brandon Lewis brings a joyously raucous jamboree over a bass groove that uncorks a series of funky guitar chops. Another bass groove in seven is laid down for Ribot’s solo within a deeper rock context, and a sax-guitar figure in five is spotted by the end.

“Faucets of Terrible” is layered with cross-rhythm currents as Ribot exposes a central odd-metered riff, with the band progressively taking it to a chaotic climax where altoist Briggan Krauss intensifies the texture with unruly passion. “Ghost of Sleeping” showcases a more lyrical side, acquiring the poignancy of a Cuban song, a fact that doesn’t stop Ribot and Krauss from amping it up before Taylor and bassist Sebastian Steinberg return to sultry, melancholic tones.

“Gnat” is a visceral, high-intensity avant-garde experiment that brings to mind Sonny Sharrock’s scorching riffery. Greene’s powerful bass activity, together with Taylor’s modern swinging style, invites tenorist Brian Settles to explore rough edges in his soloing time.

The album widens its views with beautiful renditions of two songs by Haitian classical guitarist Frantz Casséus, with whom Ribot studied as a teenager in New York City: “Nan Guinan” is a classical hymn turned spiritual avant-garde exultation at the hands of Lewis, while “Rara” relies on an exuberant rhythm typical of African-derived Caribbean folk music.

Ribot’s eclecticism and rebelliousness have been treasured by a devoted legion of fans who embrace the crossroads of styles, influences, and pointed political shouts with enthusiasm. They will certainly be delighted with the principle of spontaneity that governs these performances.

Favorite Tracks:
01 - New Monster ► 03 - Gnat ► 05 - Nan Guinan

Label: Northern Spy Records, 2021

Personnel - Marc Ribot: guitar, vocals; Shahzad Ismaily: bass, keyboards, backing vocals; Ches Smith: drums, percussion, electronics, backing vocals // Guests - Darius Jones: alto sax (#6,7); Rubin Khodeli and Gyda Valtysdottir: cello (#8); Syd Straw: background vocals (#3).

Whether skirting rock, jazz, blues or funk, the guitarist/composer Marc Ribot always creates something fresh and finds powerful messages to deliver in our turbulent times. Hope is his third outing with the revolutionary Ceramic Dog project, in which he teams up with the bassist Shahzad Ismaily and the drummer Ches Smith. They are seen at the height of their powers in nine energy-filled tracks that were a direct product of the pandemic lockdown.

“B-Flat Ontology”, pinned with a minor chord whose colors take me to a particular passage of R.E.M.’s “Drive”, serves as a harbinger of Ribot's discontentment and frustration. According to him, it’s a depressing song, but it’s also an ironic one, where he doesn’t spare shocking performing artists, rock stars and young guitarists playing arpeggios at high velocity, contemporary poets, post-modern philosophers and pretentious singer/songwriters - “Isn’t it amazing? It’s just amazing! I’m just amazed!”, he sings.

The old and the new combine on “Nickelodeon”, a rockified reggae with a slippery bass groove, steady backbeat and a Talking Heads-like chorus; and also on “Wanna”, whose strong melodic riff and danceable slap beat were maybe fetched from to the 1980’s, including traces of funk rock that are redolent of Cameo’s “Word Up!”.

The satirical “The Activist” covers a lot of stuff in the spoken word (“I don’t accept…, I refuse, I resist.”), which flows atop slick bass moves and funk guitar interjections. Yet, I personally go for the instrumentals, two of which are bolstered by the guest presence of alto saxophonist Darius Jones who infuses extrovert avant-garde forays with fiery tones on “They Met in the Middle”, a country song, and “The Long Goodbye”, where the sophistication of Robert Wyatt meets the melodic distortion of Sonic Youth.

If “Bertha the Cool” navigates the groovy seas of smooth jazz via warm guitar octaves and licks, then “Maple Leaf Rage”, featuring two guest cellists - Rubin Khodeli and Gyda Valtysdottir - has two distinct halves: the first, more atmospheric, has Smith chattering fluently with brushes, whereas the second morphs into a blistering electric rock in which influences of Zappa and then Pink Floyd are noticeable.

The trio concludes the album with a cover of Donovan’s psychedelic pop song “Wear Your Love Like Heaven”, which they transform into a sort of evocative ballad sung in a Lou Reed style.

Ribot is a necessary figure in the current musical panorama, and the eclectic Hope has so many great flavors to be savored.