| Saints | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | September 18, 2001 | |||
| Recorded | 2001 | |||
| Studio | Sperry Sound & Picture, New York, NY | |||
| Genre | Avant-garde jazz | |||
| Length | 42:34 | |||
| Label | Atlantic | |||
| Producer | JD Foster | |||
| Marc Ribot chronology | ||||
| ||||
Saints is a 2001 album of solo guitar recorded by Marc Ribot. [1] It features several interpretations of compositions by Albert Ayler, as well as traditional spirituals, jazz standards, showtunes, and a song by The Beatles.
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   |
The Allmusic review by Alex Henderson states, "Ribot approaches avant-garde jazz in a very different way. Saints is full of discernible melodies; typically, Ribot will warmly embrace a melody before he ventures outside. And that inside/outside contrast serves him well throughout this excellent and very unpredictable CD". [2]
In The New York Times Adam Shatz said the album "provides a fine opportunity to hear Mr. Ribot in an uncluttered solo performance" noting "Saints is a curious follow-up to his last two records, which featured Los Cubanos Postizos ... On Saints, Mr. Ribot, 47, has gone back to the understated, contemplative style of his 1995 release Don't Blame Me . It's the kind of record that should be heard by no more than one person at a time". [3]
JazzTimes's Aaron Steinberg wrote "you have to think the guy’s Atlantic days are numbered. Saints delivers Ribot in all his pre-Postizos glory. This creaky, unrushed, all-solo guitar recital finds Ribot scratching his strings ragged, beating out blunt and wobbly notes with his bludgeon/pick, strangling the holy hell out of pop and jazz tunes alike, and making tremendously delicate music in the process. Once again, Ribot revisits the work of Albert Ayler ... Much like Ayler, Ribot is a noisy radical who keeps melody close to his heart. He may warp it, pound it or twist it until it’s practically worried through, but with each tune on Saints, the melody survives". [4]
On All About Jazz David Adler said "Perhaps the most interesting facet of Marc Ribot's solo guitar exposition is its focus on Albert Ayler ... Ribot, who of course has never been a mainstream jazzer, makes a bold move toward a different model entirely—one in which rigorous knowledge of harmony and melody bumps up against an Aylerian outlaw sensibility, resulting in a sonic landscape that could only have been dreamed up by Ribot himself". [5]
BBC Music reviewer Dan Hill stated that "Recorded in honest, naked detail, warts and all, Ribot reveals once again just how good a guitarist he is - an instantly recognisable character on this most-overplayed of instruments, largely thanks to his instincts for pushing the guitar around a bit ... Ribot touches all the right buttons, plotting a wonderfully wayward course between Rain Dogs and the Knitting Factory; intensely frivolous faux-Cuban and serious avant-radicalism. Ribot has his cake, and eats it too, every time". [6]
Free jazz is an approach to jazz that developed in the 1960s when musicians attempted to change or break down jazz conventions, such as regular tempos, tones, and chord changes. Musicians during this period believed that the bebop, hard bop, and modal jazz that had been played before them was too limiting. They became preoccupied with creating something new. Free jazz has often been combined with or substituted for the term "avant-garde jazz". Europeans tend to favor the term "free improvisation". Others have used "modern jazz", "creative music", and "art music".
Albert Ayler was an American avant-garde jazz saxophonist, singer and composer.
Marc Ribot is an American guitarist and composer.
Masada Anniversary Edition Vol. 1: Masada Guitars is the first album in a series of five releases celebrating the 10th anniversary of John Zorn's Masada songbook project.
Yo! I Killed Your God is a concept album by Marc Ribot, recorded live between 1992 and 1994. It was released May 18, 1999 on Tzadik Records.
¡Muy Divertido! is a studio album recorded in New York City by Marc Ribot with Los Cubanos Postizos. It was released April 25, 2000 on Atlantic Records.
Asmodeus: Book of Angels Volume 7 is an album by Marc Ribot performing compositions from John Zorn's second Masada book, The Book of Angels.
The Prosthetic Cubans is a studio album recorded in New York City by Marc Ribot with Los Cubanos Postizos and features compositions by Arsenio Rodríguez. It was the first album by The Prosthetic Cubans and was followed by ¡Muy Divertido! in 2000.
Spiritual Unity is a 2005 album by Marc Ribot released on Pi Recordings. The album features compositions by Albert Ayler who Ribot identifies as a significant influence. It was recorded at Orange Music Sound Studio, West Orange, New Jersey on October 28, 2004, except "Bells", which was recorded live at Tonic in New York City on October 27, 2004.
Don't Blame Me is a 1995 solo guitar album Marc Ribot and released on the Japanese DIW label.
Rootless Cosmopolitans is the debut solo album by American guitarist Marc Ribot, released by Antilles in 1990.
Shrek is a 1994 album by Marc Ribot recorded and released by the Japanese Avant label in 1994.
Holy Ghost: Rare & Unissued Recordings (1962–70) is a compilation album by avant-garde saxophonist Albert Ayler released by Revenant Records in 2004.
Charles Tyler Ensemble is the debut album by American jazz saxophonist Charles Tyler, which was recorded in 1966 in New York City and released on ESP-Disk.
Live at the Village Vanguard is a live album by Marc Ribot's Trio which was released in May 2014 on the Pi label.
Spirits is an album by American free jazz saxophonist Albert Ayler recorded in New York City in 1964 and first released on the Dutch Debut label then later released on the Freedom label as Witches & Devils.
Sonny II is an album by guitarist Noël Akchoté featuring tracks composed, performed, or inspired by Sonny Sharrock. The album was recorded in 2003 and released by Winter & Winter.
Bradley Christopher Jones is an American jazz bassist who performs on both bass guitar and double-bass.
YRU Still Here? is a studio album by American guitarist Marc Ribot's Ceramic Dog which was released in April 2018 on Northern Spy Records.
Lörrach / Paris 1966 is a live album by saxophonist and composer Albert Ayler, recorded in Europe in 1966 and first released on the Swiss hat MUSICS label in 1982. The album was rereleased on CD in 2002 with additional recordings from the Paris concert.