Marc Ribot: The Jazz-Bins at Vivarium

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Presumably a play on the term has-beens, Marc Ribot: The Jazz-Bins were plenty relevant Wednesday evening at Vivarium. Due to an unexpected delay the show started a half hour late, but it was a small price to pay for fans who had long waited to see Marc Ribot in action.

The multi-faceted composer-guitarist’s Zelig career has found him working with Tom Waits, John Zorn, Elvis Costello and Richard Hell. He was a member of the Lounge Lizards, fronted his own groups Ceramic Dog, Los Cubanos Postizos and recorded an album of music by his mentor, Haitian guitarist Frantz Casseus.

But this show would be a different experience. In 1979 Ribot played four months with jazz organ legend Brother Jack McDuff. Not unlike Ry Cooder’s Buena Vista Social Club, Ribot’s Jazz-Bin project (featuring Greg Lewis on Hammond B3 organ and drummer Joe Dyson) refracts his long-ago experiences at Newark, New Jersey’s Key Club and CBGB’s.

With a pair of Leslie speakers flanking the stage and an organ equipped with bass pedals, Lewis was a one-man orchestra. The sounds he coaxed from the instrument ranged from comforting to volcanic. 

Opening with a tune that could have been a run-through of the band’s transmission they followed with a number featuring Ribot thumbing octaves ala Wes Montgomery. What began as the intersection where jazz meets blues, the tune turned into frenzied blasts and quick atonal shards before ebbing back into a subline near-nothingness with Lewis providing a soft landing.

The fascinating interplay of the band included Ribot’s nonverbal signals to his band mates directing musical traffic. He also ended most tunes by dropping the sheet music from his stand when the song ended.

Dyson’s New Orleans pedigree shined brightly with funky grooves, but he also demonstrated a restraint that came in handy. For all the firepower onstage, virtuosity was offered sparingly. Ending another tune with a grin, Ribot seemed to be channeling Terry Riley with a cycling series of notes that obeyed its own logic. With Dyson’s control of the Hammond the mood of the set switched to gospel reverence and simmering intensity. 

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Returning for an encore Ribot quipped “it’s not like we get to play Milwaukee every day.” He had a roomful of listeners who could only wish.