Music, art, biographies, history, vintage cars, vintage comic art, rowing, sailing, going to museums, going to dive bars, good restaurants, and cafes that serve good coffee. I love peaty single malt scotches and good red wines. I love to laugh and to make others laugh - some folks have said I'd make a good comic or comedy writer.
Music
Charles Mingus, Thelonious Monk, The Meters, Duke Ellington, and Billy Strayhorn are among my favorite musicians. For bass I dig Mingus, Paul Chambers, Dave Holland, George Porter Jr., Ray Brown, and Christian McBride.
I listen to a lot of other stuff besides jazz, including X, Dave Alvin, The Knitters, Red Meat, Johnny Cash, Tom Waits, Renaissance vocal music, occasionally opera, early ska and reggae, and a lot of other stuff. I love a lot of the classical Cuban music too, and tangos have influnced me some too. I guess I'm just a music slut, or a "bass ho," as an old girlfriend used to call me.
These days I mostly play upright bass but my first instrument was cello. I'll be dusting that off for the first time in many years for some classical stuff and maybe some Astor Piazzolla tangos. I also play electric bass - mostly in church gigs and worship music.
I like writing tunes and lead my own jazz group featuring my own tunes. We mostly play in the San Francisco Bay Area. My website, http://www.ribak.com, tells more about what I'm doing.
Movies
Buster Keaton movies, Tender Mercies, Wallace and Gromit flicks, Spinal Tap, A Mighty Wind, Sideways, Louise Brooks movies, The Thin Man, Rear Window, Vertigo, The Trouble with Harry.
Television
Simpsons, The Shield.
Books
Mysteries, Biographies, History books - haven't read any real winners lately. "God is Not Great " by Christopher Hitchens was very intersting reading.
Heroes
Charles Mingus (as a musician, not for how he treated people), Duke Ellington, J.S. Bach, Count Basie, Thelonious Monk, Jaco Pastorius, Ray Brown, Milt Hinton, Johnny Cash, Arthur Ashe, race driver Phil Hill, ditto Graham Hill.
Berklee College Of Music
Boston,Massachusetts
Graduated: 1989
Student status: Alumni
Degree: Other
Major: Performance, Bass
1987 to 1989
University Of California-Berkeley
Berkeley,California
Graduated: 1983
Student status: Alumni
Degree: Bachelor's Degree
Major: Political Science
Minor: Music
bandleader, jazz composer, play upright ad electric bass, cello
Kurt Wed. 11/25-Kurt Ribak Trio @ Cato's -3891 Piedmont Ave., Oakland 6-9 PM. w/ Hal Richards & Michael Hatfield vibes. http://www.mrcato.com/Posted at 5:28 PM Nov 25 from Twitter view more
About me: Working musician, mostly in jazz. I play upright bass, electric bass, eclectic bass, and am starting to play cello again. I also sing sometimes - mostly harmony, occasionally lead.
Who I'd like to meet: Johnny Cash if he wasn't dead. Ditto Charles Mingus and Graham Hill. I'd like to meet the writer Henry Manney again and my great-great-uncle Simon Rodia, who built the Watts Towers in Watts, South Central LA. As far as living people go, folks who share some of my interests.
Hope everyone can join us for this night at Cafe Du Nord:
Performance of Riley's In C, The Lickets, Julianna Barwick, and DJ Stereo Steve (spinning ambient sounds) Monday, Nov 16, 2009 8:00 PM PST (7:00 PM Doors) $10. at Cafe Du Nord >Details here and Tickets Here or at the door.
The new True Margrit CD - The Juggler's Progress - is now available for pre-order, along with t-shirts and artwork, photo and drumheads, as we get ready for our monthlong tour of the Great Northwest! Check it out here: http://bit.ly/7Cu8J
Look for us in Washington, Oregon and California between October 15 and November 15, when our tour wraps up with the big show at San Francisco's best rock club, Bottom of the Hill! For the complete show schedule, check here: http://bit.ly/1UgGqQ
I also just released a new funky album "Outcries from a Sea of Red" which is now available! You can preview and order/download by clicking this link to CD Baby:
If you dig it, please support my music by purchasing the music through my website or CD Baby. Only you can support original and independent music!
JFJO returns San Francisco in support of their new album One Day in Brooklyn on Fri. Sept. 11th at Cafe Du Nord, with The Last Ambassadors supporting. Doors at 8:30pm and music at 9:30pm. Advance tickets still available. JFJO is also in Santa Cruz at Kuumbwa Jazz Center tonight! See you soon!
Due to many request's for it, its finally happened my debut album "Ambivalence" can be heard in its entirety on my myspace page check out the songs and let me know what you think :).
If you get a chance as well it would be great to have your vote in the 2009 Musicoz awards you can follow the link/banner on my page, voting only takes a second and you can win great prizes
I hope you all enjoy the tracks
Regards
Todd
PS: If you do like the tracks you can buy them on itunes from following the links from my page or from CD Baby also from the links on my page
Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey returns to the Bay Area for 3 shows this week!
Wed. 6/17 - Elbo Room - SF,CA
Thurs. 6/18 - Starry Plough - Berkeley,CA
Fri. 6/19 - Starry Plough - Berkeley,CA (w/Antioquia!)
Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey returns to the Bay Area for 3 shows this week!
Wed. 6/17 - Elbo Room - SF,CA
Thurs. 6/18 - Starry Plough - Berkeley,CA
Fri. 6/19 - Starry Plough - Berkeley,CA (w/Antioquia!)
Thank you for your friendship. Please check out the my flyer for the great lineup of musicians I’m going to be working with at the Iridium Jazz Club on June 16th. I am so excited! Peace and love, Pat Holley
Hope you are having a GREAT Memorial Day Weekend! The Michael Paul Band Tell your friends to ADD US ON MYSPACE! We Don't Just Play Music - We put on a SHOW!
JFJO returns San Francisco in support of their new album One Day in Brooklyn on Fri. Sept. 11th at Cafe Du Nord, with The Last Ambassadors supporting. Doors at 8:30pm and music at 9:30pm. Advance tickets still available. JFJO is also in Santa Cruz at Kuumbwa Jazz Center tonight! See you soon!
