Why Marc Ribot Is Afraid Of Freedom

"I got back a few weeks ago from a tour with my band Ceramic Dog, and I've been working on finishing a solo vocal record, and also I'm working on a live recording with my band The Young Philadelphians which is myself, Jamaaladeen Tacuma, Calvin Weston, Mary Halvorson and whatever three string players we can talk into doing our harmolodic versions of Philadelphia soul tunes. All of that's been keeping me busy, but mainly I've just been lying around at the beach," he chuckles. "I'm also playing this weekend premiering some new pieces with John Zorn. If I can learn them."

Ribot explains that this hotchpotch of diverse projects indeed reflects his varied music tastes, but also that he needs to get into the relevant headspace depending on precisely what he's playing.

"I both enjoy [the freedom that improvising allows me] and am terrified by it."

"Well you know, papa's gotta pay the rent. But yes, I'm into a lot of different things. For me the things that I'm into are united by a certain kind of common energy that I like, but from the outside it looks like I'm all over the place. It's not as far a stretch as you would think, but that said when I'm doing a solo concert like I am when I come down [to Australia] I like to live with it for a few weeks - play every day, think about it and get into what I'm doing in advance."

Ribot's solo shows can be unpredictable affairs, if only because he never knows himself what he's going to play until the mood and environment dictate a path for him.

"Usually when I play solo I never plan a setlist and I do whatever feels right at the moment, which is a mixture of free improvisation plus whatever comes into my head," he continues. "But usually I can say that some material that I've performed in the past shows up, oftentimes something from some of my earlier solo records or sometimes a Frantz Casseus piece or oftentimes something from one of the Spiritual Unity records or one of my works with Henry Grimes and Chad Taylor [as The Marc Ribot Trio]. I play a lot of stuff, and somehow it all seems to all fit together.

"From my perspective the [solo sets] differ wildly, but to an outside listener they probably have a lot more unity than I'm experiencing. I love playing live and I love the feeling of connection - you can feel it right away when people are connected. When I play I'm not in some internal bubble, I'm in the room with other people and it's a kind of a dialogue. I both enjoy [the freedom that improvising allows me] and am terrified by it. Freedom in general scares me, not only artistic."

Incredibly, even a guitarist of Ribot's indubitable skill and pedigree believes that he's still finding out about instrument's many nuances.

"Oh I hope so, yeah," he offers. "I find some of them on my own, and I find some of them by working with composers like John Zorn. Actually I don't find so many things by working with composers, because unfortunately although many composers have mastered the language of the violin, very few have gone that far with the guitar. But I will say that I've learned a shitload from working with John Zorn, who is pretty rare among composers as having really gotten inside the guitar - the electric guitar - and just dozens and dozens of extended techniques.

"I think he learned a lot himself from working with Eugene Chadbourne about using a violin bow or alligator clips or jamming something underneath the strings or pulling the strings out of their saddles or playing with a balloon or a file or dropping rice on it - whatever it is, playing behind the bridge or behind the nut, scratching or hitting or squeaking on the body of the instrument - he's got the extended techniques as well as an appreciation of what's the difference between a Telecaster and a Les Paul. There's a lot to the guitar which makes a big difference in composition, so I've been lucky to work with Zorn and some other people who understand. I'm still trying to pick things up, but also at this point I spend a lot of time preventing the things I have from running away. It's an endless study."