Marc Ribot

Marc Ribot (born 1954) is an American guitarist, composer and occasional singer from Newark, New Jersey.

Related Topics:
1954 - American - Composer - Singer - Newark, New Jersey

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As a teenager interested in learning to play the guitar, his parents sent him for lessons with Haitian guitarist and composer Frantz Casseus, a family friend. Ribot later recorded an album of Casseus's guitar music.

Related Topics:
Haiti - Frantz Casseus

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Ribot has performed and recorded with The Lounge Lizards and Elvis Costello, among dozens of others. He is perhaps best known for his long association with Tom Waits, who has described Ribot's stage demeanor as a sometimes frightening "voodoo frenzy." http://www.keeslau.com/TomWaitsSupplement/Interviews/93-oct-straightnochaser.htm

Related Topics:
The Lounge Lizards - Elvis Costello - Tom Waits - Voodoo

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Ribot's playing and compositions draw on such diverse musical genres as soul, jazz, funk, traditional Cuban music and no wave. His biting style is unique and easily recognizable, characterized by critic Nick Renshaw as "angular, discordant, (and) aggressive." Ribot is the first to admit his relatively limited technical facility, due in part to his learning to play right-handed though he is in fact left-handed: "That's a real limit, one that caused me a lot of grief when I was working with Jack McDuff and realizing I wasn't following in George Benson's footsteps. I couldn't be a straight-ahead jazz contender if you held a gun to my head, but that begs the question of whether I would want to be one." (Guitar Player, June 1997)

Related Topics:
Genres - Soul - Jazz - Funk - Cuban music - No wave - Right-handed - Left-handed - Jack McDuff - George Benson - Gun - Begs the question

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Despite these limitations, Ribot is often in demand: he's highly adaptable and generally well respected.

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