Marc Ribot - Music, Guitar, Man

Something I am very excited about is having the great guitarist, Marc Ribot, at the festival for two days.
The first show will be a solo show at the Fourth Stage on June 24th and the second will be on main stage the following day with Allen Toussaint - an anticipated show with the New Orleans legend, sharing the stage with Ribot, Don Byron and Christian Scott.

Marc Ribot is one of the most sought after guitarist from Avant Garde to jazz to pop for a reason. His knowledge and fluency of countless styles coupled with an intuitive sense to constantly create something new makes him a perfect candidate for everyone that needs the anchor of basic great musicianship but might also want something new in their music: a fresh angle, perhaps an infusion of something on the guttural, more folky side. This everyone would includes: Alison Krauss, Robert Plant, Diana Krall, Elton John, Elvis Costello, John Zorn, McCoy Tyner, Tom Waits, and the list goes on and on. The latter mentioned however - anyone who is familiar with Tom Waits' ability to build an image through his music, would recognize the significance of Marc Ribot being present on five Tom Waits records.
His solo project is a highly anticipated Improv Series event on my calendar and even if you are not a guitarist, this is something worth checking out.

Something else that is incredible about Marc Ribot is his advocacy for the arts and its artists. As Ribot is involved with so many different projects in all kinds of styles, genres and mediums, he is one of the most articulate person to talk about the state of music not only in New York and its multiple-music-scene universe but the state of the arts world-wide. I don't know if we are all aware of the fact that the way things are in the world today, art is not something that is high on the list of things we value. As we are all worried about money (recession or not), the first thing that always gets cut is the arts: from our school systems, to our support of the arts in all venues, to our support digitally (as we have gotten very used to copying and downloading). I do not say this to sound preachy at all, rather I want to point out that although our society as a whole seems to value the bottom line, how we get to the bottom line requires an open mind, creativity and the inspiration of art. After all what do we have if not inspiration in this life? I have read a few articles on this topic by Marc Ribot and they are very eye-opening.

So here is to a great musician, a great guitarist and a great human being. To end things off, here are a couple of great videos:

 

 

Performances:
Marc Ribot Sunday June 24th, 5pm at The Fourth Stage
Allen Toussaint Monday June 25th, 9pm on Main Stage

www.ottawajazzfestival.com