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 Widely
regarded as one of today's most inventive and adventurous guitarists,
Marc Ribot reassembles his celebrated Cubanos Postizos - that
is, fake Cubans - for his much-anticipated second Atlantic
album, Muy Divertido! (Very Entertaining). A leading
light of New York City's downtown scene, Ribot initially made
a name for himself through indelible road and studio work with
Elvis Costello, Marianne Faithfull, and Tom Waits - most recently
on the smoky baritone troubadour's Mule Variations
album and tour.
With a guitar style defined by
its edgy and electric tones, punky and loose attitude, Ribot
formed Los Cubanos Postizos - which include bassist Brad Jones
of the Jazz Passengers and Ornette Coleman's Prime Time; percussionist
E.J. Rodriguez; and drummer Robert J. Rodriguez of Miami Sound
Machine - in February 1997 and immediately began a regular
live schedule. From the start, the ensemble built their repertoire
around songs associated with legendary Cuban composer and
big band leader Arsenio Rodriguez (1911-1972). Famed for his
skillful playing of the tres, the three-stringed
guitar so central to the Cuban sound, Rodriguez was a superstar
of the Latin music scene during the Forties and Fifties.
In 1998, Ribot was the subject of effusive critical praise upon
the release of Marc Ribot Y Los Cubanos Postizos, his
Atlantic debut. Amongst a flurry of glowing notices, the album
was voted as one of 1998's "Essential Albums" in Rolling
Stone. CMJ New Music Monthly weighed in, calling
the debut "a scorching record, one that deserves to be
heard by Latin purists, guitar freaks, and jazz geaks alike."
Jazziz declared the tracks "some of the scruffiest,
most deliciously different Cuban music you're likely to hear."
The magazine went on to say of Ribot, "Among guitar heroes,
count Marc Ribot as one who isn't afraid of the rough stuff.
He has facility on his instrument but doesn't let that get in
the way of a good time. He manhandles the strings more than
massages them, bumping into odd variations on a harmonic theme,
savoring every blue note..."
With the guitarist's ninth "solo"
album, Los Cubanos Postizos have added a new member - keyboardist
Anthony Coleman - the downtown leading light known for recordings
with John Zorn, Elliot Sharp, and Gary Lucas, along with his
own work as a member of both the Sephardic Tinge and the Selfhaters.
In fact it was Coleman who first introduced Ribot to the music
of Rodriguez some seven years ago.
Making further evolution from teh
motivating inspiration of Arsenio Rodriguez, the new album
sees the group finding their voice, moving towardd an expression
uniquely their own - a fortuitous by-product of their ongoing
performances at New York City's Knitting Factory. Special
guests rounding out the studio cast include bassist/producer
J.D. Foster (Dwight Yoakam), keyboardist Steve Nieve (Elvis
Costello, Madness, Squeeze) and singer/actress Eszter Balint
(Stranger Than Paradise, Trees Lounge), who supplies her cool,
expressive vocals to such tracks as the spirited "Dame
Un Cachito."
Together, the Muy Divertido! crew brings a bright,
effervescent quality to Los Cubanos Postizos sound, one defined
more than ever by a flavorfull rock influence and complemented
bi-lingual vocal passages. With a stripped-down sound centered
around guitar, bass, conga, and keyboard, the album moves
nimbly from such tracks as the cool and sublime "El Gaucho;"
and the buoyant, organ-propelled "Como." Imporvisational,
unexpectedly playful, and vibey, yet notably unyielding, the
new album is perhaps the guitarist's most accessible work
to date.
As Ribot explains, Los Cubanos
Postizos was launched purely for the fun of it: "I thought
I'd get a couple of friends together and get a gig in a bar
playing old Cuban tunes. And that's basically what we did,
except that on our third gig, we got signed to Atlantic. I
could no doubt go back and find a deep conceptual reason for
this project, but in fact, that's the way it developed.
Ribot is adamant that the band
not be regarded as an "authentic" simulation of
classic Cuban music. Rather, the bandleader's intent at homage
is right up front in the group's humorously straightforward
moniker. "I like to announce my intentions right in the
title," Ribot notes with a grin. "I don't want to
present this as a work of scholarship or make any claims to
authenticity. This is my usage of Cuban music, of the music
of Arsenio Rodriguez and some other Cuban musicians."
That said, Muy Divertido! mirrors American musicians'
continuing interest in the rhythmic musical heritage of Cuba
and its extraordinary influence upon our own idiom.
"Let me just express my dismay
at the fact that this turned out to be trendy," Ribot
laughs. "But I think there's a common cause. A lot of
great archival Cuban music compliations became available in
the U.S. starting in the early '90s, and it's natural that
musicians would pick up on that.
"What's quite beautiful about
now," Ribot goes on, "is that twenty or thirty years
ago only musicologists had access to all of this sort of world
music material. Now anybody can get it at Tower."
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