“Some music is just music.” guitarist said at the last night. “And other music is like a prayer for music to arrive. And then, hopefully it does.” If that sounds like an enigmatic statement to you, the improvised playing of Ribotap trio didn’t diminish it.
After taking the stage before the Oriental’s full house, bassist Henry Grimes, drummer Chad Taylor and Ribot began tuning their instruments — for a long time. The tunings thickened and grew louder, a few chords taking shape from Ribotap guitar, and somewhere several minutes in, Albert Aylers “Bells” was assembled. Only a brief refrain bore any resemblance to the song on the trio’s Ayler tribute album, “Spritiual Unity,” and that carved a kind of dizzying thrill. Grimes, the bassist who many in jazz circles believed was dead after a harrowing 36-year disappearance amid the low rent districts of downtown Los Angeles, described the work of his collaborator and friend Ayler as “church music.” ) The church of free jazz would subscribe to the “Ten Amendments.”
Crouched on a wooden chair, Ribot then shifted songs with some sparse, meditative tones. Grimes short-bowed the violin busily to contrast the mood. Are you supposed to follow Ribot or Grimes, or both of them at the same time? And who’s leading who here? Ribot strummed what evoked the soundtrack for a Spanish bullfight, then dove straight into metal chords before riding a kind of maniacally skipping, up-and-down riff. Grimes rumbled the bass and pushed the tempo. And, as he displayed all show whether on brushes, sticks or the soda bottle he picked up from the floor, Taylor pushed out beats both fluidly and with power, not a motion wasted. At song’s end, Ribot revised the name the group: “Actually, this is the Grimes-Taylor-Ribot Trio,” he said.
Of course, such a song is the perfect lead-in to some barroom blues, which is exactly what the trio played next. It was the perfect tongue-in-cheek moment. And sure enough, those 12-bar measures never sounded so fresh.
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Denver-based writer Sam DeLeo is a published poet, has seen two of his plays produced and is currently finishing his second novel.
Michael McGrath is a Denver area photographer. His work is available at . Visit .
