One of the most sought-after guitarists in rock and jazz, Marc Ribot was born in Newark, New Jersey, on May 21, 1954. He learned to play the instrument as a teenager and took part in various rock bands, perfecting his skills with Haitian composer Frantz Casseus, to whom he paid tribute in an album released in 1993. In 1978, he moved to New York and rubbed shoulders with the local punk scene, joining The Realtones, before joining John Lurie's avant-garde band, The Lounge Lizards. He toured with soul and jazz artists, including organist Jack McDuff, before embarking on a solo career with the album Rootless Cosmpolitans (1990), followed by many others, in between hundreds of studio sessions for a wide range of artists including Tom Waits, Elvis Costello, Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, T-Bone Burnett, Elton John, Alain Bashung, Marianne Faithfull, The Black Keys, Diana Krall, Allen Toussaint and many others. He formed the Cuban group Los Cubanos Postizos for two albums in 1998/2000, collaborating with his peers Fred Frith, John Zorn, Noël Akchoté, Ikue Mori and Robert Quine, Elliott Sharp and Mary Halvorson and Bill Frisell. Other group projects include the Ceramic Dog trio, which released five albums between 2008 and 2023. 2025 saw the release of the solo album Map of a Blue City.
