Kurt Ribak

At a Glance

 

How do you pronounce Ribak? REE-bok, like the shoes

Style: Original jazz for the hips, head, and heart.

Instrumentation: Piano/keyboards, sax, upright bass, drums.  Can expand up to a quintet with woodwinds and brass, or down to a duo.


Venues Kurt Ribak has played:

Concert Halls, Nightclubs and Restaurants
Yoshi’s,
Freight & Salvage, San Francisco Legion of Honor, de Young Museum, Jupiter, Hotel De Anza, Chaya Brasserie, Prima Ristorante, Enrico’s, Pearl's, Pres a Vi,  Bruno’s, Shanghai 1930, Downtown Restaurant, Paragon, The Albatross, Club Deluxe, Café Bastille, Café Claude, Café de la Presse, Hi-Ball Lounge, Maritime Hall, and many others.

Festivals
Fillmore Street Jazz Festival, San Francisco Jazz Festival, North Beach Jazz Festival, Union Street Jazz Festival, Shasta County Blues Festival, American Arts Festival, San Anselmo Art & Design Festival, and Yerba Buena Gardens.

Churches
First United Methodist (Pt. Richmond, CA), Moraga Valley Presbyterian Church (Moraga, CA), Christian Church of Pacific Grove (Pacific Grove, CA), and Lafayette United Methodist Church (Lafayette, CA).

 

Radio Shows
KCSM-FM (San Mateo, CA) Morning Cup of Jazz, Desert Island Jazz, Mid-Day Jazz, West Coast Live (KALW-FM, San Francisco, CA), KCSM Desert Island Jazz, KRKD (Oakland, CA), KPFA, KKUP, KALW, and others.

BIOGRAPHY

Kurt playing Blondie

photo: Lisa Solook

 

Who’s Kurt Ribak?

Kurt Ribak (pronounced REE-bok, like the shoes) showed a penchant for finding rhythm and music where he could.

Kurt’s parents were not players but lovers of music.  Ancestors include a female leader of an all-male band (“Stella and her Fellas”) and Simon Rodia, the creator of the Watts Towers, a major work of folk art.  

When Kurt was about four years old his mother found him dancing to the sound of the dishwasher.  More conventional early musical experiences included playing ‘cello and singing in the San Francisco Boys Chorus, which performed with the San Francisco Symphony and Opera.

A Berkeley, CA native, Kurt attended UC Berkeley, where he continued playing classical music and played in the UC Jazz Ensembles.  Kurt met pianist Greg Sankovich there and reconnected with his fellow San Francisco Boys Chorus alumnus, saxophonist Lincoln Adler.   Kurt continues to play with Greg and Lincoln.

After a battle with tendinitis, Kurt won scholarships to Berklee College of Music.  He graduated with top honors after practicing obsessively.  He also spent many hours transcribing and absorbing the styles of bassists Paul Chambers, Ray Brown, and Charles Mingus and dissecting the compositions and arrangements of Nigerian bandleader Fela Kuti and R&B giant James Brown.

At Berklee College of Music Kurt learned he loved composition and songwriting.  His early tunes reflect a strong Thelonious Monk influence, while others reflect his love of the great bassist/composer/bandleader Charles Mingus, whose music he studied intensively at Berklee.  Later tunes bring to mind Horace Silver, Lee Morgan, and the South African composer Abdullah Ibrahim. 

Kurt says what he’s trying for in his music is “Charles Mingus meets The Meters.  They go to Duke Ellington’s house to jam, and every so often Cachao and Thelonious Monk sit in.” 

Kurt leads the Kurt Ribak Trio and has worked as a musician in settings ranging from circuses to sharing the stage with preachers and fire-breathing strippers.  (Kurt notes these were different events.)  Kurt has performed in venues ranging from Yoshi's to a club where someone stashed a loaded .45 in his bass bag.  Kurt no longer plays there.

In June 2012 Kurt was in an auto accident, seriously injuring his left hand and forearm.  Nine operations and over a year later he is still recovering but has resumed playing between surgeries.  He notes, “It’s a tough way to find out, but when I was hurt I learned how many people loved me, cared about me.  They say it takes a village to raise a child.  It also takes a community to heal someone.” 

Kurt Ribak has just released his fourth recording as a leader, titled "I Got One More!"  The Kurt Ribak Trio has three CDs out, all of which enjoy airplay on KCSM-FM and other jazz stations.  He has led his group at venues throughout the greater Bay Area and beyond, including sold-out appearances at Yoshi’s. 

 


Greg Sankovich

photo: Lisa Solook

GREG SANKOVICH, piano, organ and keyboards was born in 1960 and was raised in the East Bay area of San Francisco. After showing attraction to piano as a child, he began his keyboard journey with classical training from age 6. His parents' interest in dance and popular music inspired Greg's feel for music that moves people, so his inclination from an early age was towards rhythmically-oriented music.

He went on to study with the finest jazz and latin pianists and educators in the San Francisco area including Al Zulaica, Mark Levine, and Art Lande. From 13 years old Greg was busy in the SF bay area with local jazz, club and dance bands, and was an active member of the UC Berkeley Jazz Ensembles, highlighted by concert tours in Japan and Europe.

After graduation, Greg moved to Tokyo where he lived for over ten years, performing with a long list of top Japanese artists. Greg has contributed his sound to an eclectic range of musical talent from jazz to R&B, hiphop to pop. He has performed and recorded music on over 25 record labels, and has produced music for TV, radio, and film. Currently, Greg performs regularly in the SF Bay Area with his 6+ year jazz-funk project Times 4 who are working on their third cd release, bassist Kurt Ribak's jazz groups, an R&B buddy band since his teens the Blue Sky Band, and many other musically diverse freelance projects.

Gig info: http://www.ribak.com/gigs.html

 

CD info
Our newest CD, I Got One More! is available at CDBaby.  Our earlier three CDs are at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/kurtribaktrio.  You can hear samples and/or buy CDs and downloads.  You can also find us on iTunes. 

You can also purchase the CDs at http://www.afm6.org/cdstore.htm  and at amazon.com.  They are available for download at emusic.com, iTunes, and other major download sites.  You can also buy the CDs at Groove Yard, 5555 Claremont Avenue Oakland, CA 94618 and at Down Home Music, 10341 San Pablo Avenue, El Cerrito, CA 94530.


Contact:
Kurt Ribak

Phone: 510-703-7035

e-mail: kurt@ribak.com

fax: 510-528-4774

postal mail:
P.O. Box 8045,
Berkeley, CA 94707-8045



Drums

Matt Willis
Matt Willis photo
MATT WILLIS, drums was born in Detroit in the late 50's and has made California and Hawaii his home since the late 1970's. Extremely versatile in all musical styles with a dynamic groove and easygoing nature, he performs throughout northern California with top musicians including world-renowned steel drum artist Jeff Narell, guitarist Ray Obeido, and jazz composer/ bassist Kurt Ribak among many others. Past credits include Hawaiian artists such as Henry Kaleialoha Allen, Loyal Garner and Melveen Leed plus American oldies acts the Shirelles, Drifters and Coasters. Matt is expert in Brazilian and Caribean rhythms as a result of years playing with Jeff Narrell and Batucaje.  Matt currently resides with his wife and children in the Bay Area.

Additional performers with the Kurt Ribak Trio, Quartet and Quintet

Lincoln Alder
            Photo
LINCOLN ADLER,
Saxophones.  Lincoln started playing various musical instruments at the age of 5, eventually being drawn 
to the saxophone in high school. Lincoln became fascinated by the power of music to communicate feelings across the boundaries of 
language and culture. He developed his sound playing in Bay Area bands and refined his abilities at the University of California, 
Berkeley as a member of the UC Jazz Ensembles. He studied with some great teachers, including legendary saxophonist Joe Henderson and 
local hero Hal Stein. In Los Angeles he became an in-demand session player and composer/producer for TV and film. He released four albums 
under his own name as well as one with the L.A. based Rain-bo Tribe, and two with Times 4. Lincoln has performed and recorded with many 
artists including actor/pianist Jeff Goldblum, The Jets, kd lang, and Olivia Newton John.  Lincoln plays regularly with Kurt Ribak and is a member of jazz-funk group Times 4, including multiple appearances at both Yoshi's Nightspots.  His musical influences include Sonny Rollins, Johnny Griffin, Grover Washington Jr., Stanley Turrentine, Gustav Mahler and Meshell Ndegeocello.




Drummers Emeriti:

Tim Solook


photo: Lisa Solook

Tim Solook is a working drummer whose talent to adapt to a variety of musical styles is always in demand. Born and raised in New Jersey, Tim studied music in Philadelphia and New York City, receiving his BM degree from the Manhattan School of Music.

While studying at MSM, Tim took private instruction from jazz drumming great Joe Morello and vibist David Friedman. Upon graduating, Tim studied vibes with Caribbean Jazz Project's Dave Samuels. Collectively these associations have molded a solid musical foundation for Tim's style.

Over the last 25 years, Tim has performed everywhere from the Newport Jazz Festival, Saratoga, NY, Continental Arena, Rutherford, NJ, and the Roxy in Los Angeles to the Jazz Keller in Frankfurt, Germany. He has recorded five nationally distributed CDs with Houston jazz pianist Joe LoCascio.

While living in Houston, Tim performed with celebrated jazz musicians Freddie Hubbard, Kirk Whalum, Herb Ellis, Charlie Byrd, Emily Remler, Dave Leibman, Roseanna Vitro, Monty Alexander, Tim Hagans and Randy Brecker. From 1996 to 2002, Tim held the position of percussion instructor at Houston Community College, working with private drum students and the percussion ensemble for five years.

Currently residing in San Jose, CA, Tim continues to teach, compose, record, and perform extensively throughout the Bay Area. His first CD as a leader called "ABILITY" was just released on the Sol Time record label.

Drummer Tim Solook played with the Kurt Ribak Trio from 2003 until December 2006, when he returned to Houston in search of more work and affordable housing.  He appeared on the Kurt Ribak Trio's debut recording, "Kurt Ribak Trio."



Kevin Mummey


Kevin Mummey
      photo

Kevin has recorded and performed extensively with Davka, Klez-X, the San Francisco Klezmer Experience, Laurie Lewis, Penelope Houston, Los Pinkys, the Blue Room Boys, Ralph Carney, Jack Gates, Fox and Cats, the Kurt Ribak Trio and Alan Ginsberg among others.    

A versatile percussionist, he finds himself in great demand in jazz, rock, flamenco, Klezmer, Brazilian and avant-garde ensembles.  Kevin learned drums from his father in Chicago, and studied with Bob Moses, tabla with pandit Swapan Chaudury, dumbeq with Vince Delgado, and guitar with Jack Gates.   

Kevin Mummey played with the Kurt Ribak Trio from 2003 until August of 2006, when he moved to pursue a doctoral fellowship in medieval history at the University of Minnesota.  Kevin played drums on the second Kurt Ribak Trio CD, "more" and appears on the newest Kurt Ribak
Trio CD, titled "gone."