In the novel “The Commitments” by Roddy Doyle, the figure of trumpeter Joey “the lips” Fagen stands out as the unlikely noble father of the crazy band, as well as a pathological braggart of non-existent acquaintances in the soul scene.
The passage in the novel in which the crazy character contrasts soul, an example of democratic music made by ordinary people for ordinary people, with jazz, in his opinion, abstract, anti-popular and a pure form of music as an end in itself, is particularly enjoyable.
Well, good old Joey, if he had come out of literary fiction, would have had the opportunity to change his mind, witnessing the union between soul heart and warm jazz soul in the debut concert of the Jazz Bins summer tour, last July 12 in Manerba del Garda within the Minerva Musicae festival.
The band led by Marc Ribot, always at ease in mixing sounds and genres with his noise attitude, dominated the stage for an hour and a half of exquisite soul jazz, modernized and counterpointed by the sometimes heterodox touches of the guitarist from New Jersey, who confirms himself as one of the best interpreters of contemporary guitar tout court.
Ribot, folded on the guitar as he usually does, in a state of physical and spiritual fusion with his instrument, began a game of continuous connections with Greg Lewis’ Hammond B3, capable of producing a sound rich in warmth and color; Lewis played on the keyboard as a great interpreter of the organ, giving delicate embroidery, sustained melodic textures and rhythmic warps, as well as an instrumental breath that generates a sound as huge as its performer, held for a long time and rich in multi-layered dynamics.
The long bass lines obtained with the use (barefoot!) of the pedals marked the concert, as well as the inexhaustible rhythmic column guaranteed by the young and promising drummer from New Orleans Joe Dyson (already a collaborator of the late Hammond player Dr. Lonnie Smith, also in the live All in my mind ).
The setlist went through the standards (“Come rain or come shine” ), the soul jazz classics inspired by the guitar of Grant Green , a jazz musician much loved by Ribot who paid homage to the giant from Saint Louis by performing two of his compositions: “Ain’t it funky” , which put at risk the foundations of the gym that hosted the concert, and the relaxed “Grandstand” from the homonymous Blue Note of ’62.
The salsa and latin veins of Joe Bataan ( “After shower funk” ) and a pearl like “Neck bones ” by Gene Ammons, a song originally donated to the groove of Jimmy Smith closed an explosive concert, full of energy and well connected with an audience that despite the location not being the one foreseen in the program, due to weather, claimed and obtained two long and scorching encores of a Trio with a soul heart and jazz soul.
P.S. We received and publish this chronicle of a recent concert by Marc Ribot and his Jazz Bins written by a dear friend of TDJ, whom we thank. If you also want to send us your Live chronicles, your “postcards” from the concerts, perhaps accompanied by photos, you can use our email without problems: traccedijazz@libero.it and then cross your fingers.
