Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Marc Ribot Trio: Live At The Village Vanguard

5

Marc Ribot Trio: Live At The Village Vanguard

By

View read count
Marc Ribot Trio: Live At The Village Vanguard
It had been 16,631 days since bassist Henry Grimes had last played music at New York's infamous Village Vanguard. His performance, with saxophonist Albert Ayler, on December 18, 1966 was recorded and released as In Greenwich Village (Impulse!, 1967). Back after 45 years, 6 months, and 12 days, the bassist, now part of guitarist Marc Ribot's Trio with drummer Chad Taylor, revisited the musical revolution Ayler instigated in the 1960s.

Ribot's music, since its origins with John Lurie's Lounge Lizards, has utilized Alyer as a touchstone, covering his music as far back as Shrek (Avant, 1994) and the solo recordings Don't Blame Me (DIW, 1995) and Saints (Atlantic, 2001). He formed a quartet to recreate and re-imagine Ayler's music with Grimes, Taylor and trumpeter Roy Campbell, recording Spiritual Unity (Pi, 2005). After the death of Campbell (his Donald Ayler), the project continued as a trio.

This live date from June 12, 2012 is as much about Ayler's influence on the Downtown scene (whose rebirth came about in the 1980s) as it is his sway on the jazz icon John Coltrane. The trio covers two tracks from Coltrane's Sun Ship (Impulse!, 1971), the title track and "Dearly Beloved." Both tracks favor seething cauldrons of free jazz knitted together by the exquisite drumming of Taylor, whose is probably best known for his work in the Chicago Underground Duo with Rob Mazurek. Ribot's guitar plows a country/blues theme on the Ayler tune "The Wizard" that develops, like "Bells," into the Ayler archetypal march. Ribot is able to recreate, on guitar, that frenzy that Ayler could summon and turn into euphoria. The primitive sound that becomes profane.

It is easy to hear bassist William Parker's music in Grimes' bass solos, but of course it was Grimes' recordings with Ayler, Cecil Taylor, Pharoah Sanders, Don Cherry, and Sonny Rollins that influenced Parker's playing.

Besides scorching through the Coltrane and Ayler, they also mercifully surrender to the simple melodies of "Old Man River" and "I'm Confessin' (That I Love You)." Ribot's guitar work is unapologetically unrefined and original. His passion, like Ayler's, is amplified by the raw-boned music.

Track Listing

Dearly Beloved; The Wizard; Old Man River; Bells; I’m Confessin’ (That I Love You); Sun Ship.

Personnel

Marc Ribot
guitar

Henry Grimes: bass, violin; Marc Ribot: guitar; Chad Taylor: drums.

Album information

Title: Live At The Village Vanguard | Year Released: 2014 | Record Label: Pi Recordings

Tags

Comments


PREVIOUS / NEXT



Marc Ribot Concerts


Support All About Jazz

Get the Jazz Near You newsletter All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.

Near

More

Tramonto
John Taylor
Ki
Natsuki Tamura / Satoko Fujii
Duality Pt: 02
Dom Franks' Strayhorn
The Sound of Raspberry
Tatsuya Yoshida / Martín Escalante

Popular

Old Home/New Home
The Brian Martin Big Band
My Ideal
Sam Dillon
Ecliptic
Shifa شفاء - Rachel Musson, Pat Thomas, Mark Sanders
Lado B Brazilian Project 2
Catina DeLuna & Otmaro Ruíz

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.

Install All About Jazz

iOS Instructions:

To install this app, follow these steps:

All About Jazz would like to send you notifications

Notifications include timely alerts to content of interest, such as articles, reviews, new features, and more. These can be configured in Settings.