Kurt Ribak (pronounced REE-bok, like the shoes) - bassist

May 2007 Gigs


art credit: El Rey - based on a photo by David Meiland

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Kurt Ribak Trio Merchandise

CD Purchases - Buy the @#$! CD
You can buy the Kurt Ribak Trio CD online at CDBaby,  at Musicians Union Local 6. We plan to have the next CD, titled "more," out in spring 2007. It is currently in duplication. The third CD has been recorded but needs more production before artwork and packaging happens.

Meatspace Purchases
You can also buy the CD at Groove Yard, 5555 Claremont Avenue Oakland, CA 94618, and at Down Home Music, 10341 San Pablo Avenue, El Cerrito, CA. Go to my CD page for more info.

Downloads
You can download the Kurt Ribak Trio recording at iTunes and emusic.com, as well as elsewhere. We've been getting some attention at emusic - the recording is rated four out of five stars. You can do a trial membership for cheap, and recordings are way cheaper to download at emusic than with iTunes.

Live downloads
You can go to BayTaper.com or http://mefeedia.com/feeds/21779/ to download our July 2, 2006 show at the Fillmore Jazz Festival. There are also some excellent photos there. The show is rated five stars out of five.

T-Shirts
Kurt Ribak Trio t-shirts are in. These are a seven-color print on Hanes Beefy-T shirts, so these are a quality product. These echo the artwork of the first CD. They are black, with the three-colored hand on the front and the words "Kurt Ribak Trio" on the back. They come in women's sizes and cut from small to XL and men's from small to XXL. e-mail me at: kurt@ribak.com if you would like to buy a shirt, or catch up with me at a gig. Check them out here. Drummer Tim Solook and his wife Lisa are modeling them at our Fillmore Jazz Festival gig.
 

PRIMA GIG GETS PRESS
We continue to play every Friday at Prima. Thanks to all of you who let Prima owner Peter Chastain know we have a following. A review of the Friday night bar scene appeared in the Feb. 8, 2007 edition of the Contra Costa Times, in which the Kurt Ribak Trio is described as "delicious."

on to the gigs!
 


Thursday, May 3, 8:00 to 11:30 PM  
Kurt Ribak Trio - original jazz
Pres a Vi
http://www.presavi.com/
1 Letterman Drive, Bldg. D
The Presidio
San Francisco, CA
All ages

We have a new steady gig! Pres a Vi is a huge new restaurant in the Letterman Digital Arts Center, operated by George Lucas.  We will be playing Thursdays for some time to come.  The executive chef is Kelly Degala and the food is from around the world. Gerardo Acevedo-Vanni, the General Manager, just arrived here after working as the GM of Prima.

The band will be Greg Sankovich on keyboards and Rob Hart on drums. We look forward to playing here every Thursday.  The view is truly spectacular here - you can see the Marin Headlands, the Golden Gate, and a bit of the Bay itself.

Two reviews by The San Francisco Chronicle's Michael Bauer -here and here.


Friday, May 4, 7:00 to 10:00 PM - and every Friday
Kurt Ribak Trio - original jazz -
Prima Ristorante
http://www.primaristorante.com/
1522 N. Main Street, Walnut Creek, CA
Every Friday, 7:00 PM to 10:00 PM
All ages

Tip - to best hear the band you should have drinks in the bar or make a dinner reservation in the bar. A recent review of the Friday night bar scene appeared in the Contra Costa Times. I think the review says more about the writer than about the place, but so be it. It gives a good general sense of what the bar is like.

Hal Richards is on woodwinds, with Tyler Blanton on vibes.


Saturday, May 5, 8:00 to 11:30 PM
Kurt Ribak Trio - original jazz
Pres a Vi
http://www.presavi.com/
1 Letterman Drive, Bldg. D
The Presidio
San Francisco, CA
All ages

Pres a Vi is a huge new restaurant in the Letterman Digital Arts Center, operated by George Lucas. The executive chef is Kelly Degala and the food is from around the world. Gerardo Acevedo-Vanni, the General Manager, just arrived here after working as the GM of Prima.

The band will be Greg Sankovich on keyboards. We look forward to playing here every Thursday.  The view is truly spectacular here - you can see the Marin Headlands, the Golden Gate, and a bit of the Bay itself.

Two reviews by The San Francisco Chronicle's Michael Bauer -here and here.


Sun., May 6, 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM - and the first Sunday of every month
Kurt Ribak Trio - Original jazz
Chaya Brasserie
http://www.thechaya.com/
location & info
132 The Embarcadero
San Francisco, CA 94105
(415) 777-8688

Chaya is known for its "Japanese-inspired French cuisine." The food and service are outstanding, they have some very nice wines, and they have some great views of the Bay Bridge.

They also have a specially priced menu at the bar while we are playing, so you can drink and dine on a smaller budget than Chaya normally requires. The trio will be me on bass, Greg Sankovich on keyboards, and Matt Willis on drums.

Come check us out - there's not much other jazz happening on a Sunday night, and this is an interesting new version of my band. At Chaya we play a harder-hitting, more driving style than at Prima.
 

Thursday, May 10, 8:00 to 11:30 PM  
Kurt Ribak Trio - original jazz
Pres a Vi
http://www.presavi.com/
1 Letterman Drive, Bldg. D
The Presidio
San Francisco, CA
All ages

We have a new steady gig! Pres a Vi is a huge new restaurant in the Letterman Digital Arts Center, operated by George Lucas.  We will be playing Thursdays for some time to come.  The executive chef is Kelly Degala and the food is from around the world. Gerardo Acevedo-Vanni, the General Manager, just arrived here after working as the GM of Prima.

The band will be Greg Sankovich on keyboards and Bryan Bowman on drums. We look forward to playing here every Thursday.  The view is truly spectacular here - you can see the Marin Headlands, the Golden Gate, and a bit of the Bay itself.

Two reviews by The San Francisco Chronicle's Michael Bauer - here and here.


Friday, May 11, 7:00 to 10:00 PM - and every Friday
Kurt Ribak Trio - original jazz -
Prima Ristorante
http://www.primaristorante.com/
1522 N. Main Street, Walnut Creek, CA
Every Friday, 7:00 PM to 10:00 PM
All ages

Tip - to best hear the band you should have drinks in the bar or make a dinner reservation in the bar. A recent review of the Friday night bar scene appeared in the Contra Costa Times. I think the review says more about the writer than about the place, but so be it. It gives a good general sense of what the bar is like.

Greg Sankovich is on piano, with Hal Richards on .woodwinds


photo: Chris Howard


Tuesday, May 15 - daytime - private event

Alisa Clancy of KCSM-FM is having the trio play for the last meeting of an adult education class regarding jazz history and appreciation.  The trio will be me on bass, Jon Arkin on drums, and Greg Sankovich on piano.  We're looking forward to it!


Thursday, May 17, 8:00 to 11:30 PM  
Kurt Ribak Trio - original jazz
Pres a Vi
http://www.presavi.com/
1 Letterman Drive, Bldg. D
The Presidio
San Francisco, CA
All ages

We have a new steady gig! This is our debut at Pres a Vi, a huge new restaurant in the Letterman Digital Arts Center, operated by George Lucas.  We will be playing Thursdays for some time to come.  The executive chef is Kelly Degala and the food is from around the world. Gerardo Acevedo-Vanni, the General Manager, just arrived here after working as the GM of Prima.

The band will be Greg Sankovich on keyboards and Bryan Bowman on drums. We look forward to playing here every Thursday. The view is truly spectacular here - you can see the Marin Headlands, the Golden Gate, and a bit of the Bay itself.

Two reviews by The San Francisco Chronicle's Michael Bauer -here and here.


Friday, May 18, 7:00 to 10:00 PM - and every Friday
Kurt Ribak Trio - original jazz -
Prima Ristorante
http://www.primaristorante.com/
1522 N. Main Street, Walnut Creek, CA
Every Friday, 7:00 PM to 10:00 PM
All ages

Tip - to best hear the band you should have drinks in the bar or make a dinner reservation in the bar.  A recent review of the Friday night bar scene appeared in the Contra Costa Times. I think the review says more about the writer than about the place, but so be it. It gives a good general sense of what the bar is like.


Thursday, May 24, 8:00 to 11:30 PM  
Kurt Ribak Trio - original jazz
Pres a Vi
http://www.presavi.com/
1 Letterman Drive, Bldg. D
The Presidio
San Francisco, CA
All ages

We have a new steady gig! This is our debut at Pres a Vi, a huge new restaurant in the Letterman Digital Arts Center, operated by George Lucas.  We will be playing Thursdays for some time to come.  The executive chef is Kelly Degala and the food is from around the world. Gerardo Acevedo-Vanni, the General Manager, just arrived here after working as the GM of Prima.

We look forward to playing here every Thursday.  The view is truly spectacular here - you can see the Marin Headlands, the Golden Gate, and a bit of the Bay itself.

Two reviews by The San Francisco Chronicle's Michael Bauer -here and here.


Friday, May 25, 7:00 to 10:00 PM - and every Friday
Kurt Ribak Trio - original jazz -
Prima Ristorante
http://www.primaristorante.com/
1522 N. Main Street, Walnut Creek, CA
Every Friday, 7:00 PM to 10:00 PM
All ages

Tip - to best hear the band you should have drinks in the bar or make a dinner reservation in the bar. Greg Sankovich is on piano, with Randy Odell on drums. A recent review of the Friday night bar scene appeared in the Contra Costa Times. I think the review says more about the writer than about the place, but so be it. It gives a good general sense of what the bar is like.
 


 


The above was made by Sarah, a neat Berkeley kid, while listening to us one night.  She has since come to see the band repeatedly.
 
 


 

Wednesday, May 30, 6:00 to 9:00 PM - and the last Wednesday of every month
Kurt Ribak Trio - Original jazz
Cato's Ale House
http://www.mrcato.com/
3891 Piedmont Ave., Oakland, CA
510-655-3349
all ages, no cover

We play the last Wednesday of every month. Cato's is a beer and wine place with a lot of good bar grub as well. Their beer selection is excellent, and you can bring your kids if you wish. Hal Richards will be on woodwinds, with Dave Casini on vibes.

 

Thursday, May 31, 8:00 to 11:30 PM  
Kurt Ribak Trio - original jazz
Pres a Vi
http://www.presavi.com/
1 Letterman Drive, Bldg. D
The Presidio
San Francisco, CA
All ages

We have a new steady gig! This is our debut at Pres a Vi, a huge new restaurant in the Letterman Digital Arts Center, operated by George Lucas.  We will be playing Thursdays for some time to come.  The executive chef is Kelly Degala and the food is from around the world. Gerardo Acevedo-Vanni, the General Manager, just arrived here after working as the GM of Prima.

The band will be Greg Sankovich on keyboards and Rob Hart on drums. We look forward to playing here every Thursday. This month we have a few prior commitments to work through, but soon we will be here every Thursday. The view is truly spectacular here - you can see the Marin Headlands, the Golden Gate, and a bit of the Bay itself.

Two reviews by The San Francisco Chronicle's Michael Bauer -here and here.

 



FUTURE GIGS

Saturday, June 30, 9:30 PM to 12:30 AM
Kurt Ribak Quartet - original jazz
The Albatross
1822 San Pablo Avenue (two blocks north of University, west side of the street)
Berkeley, CA 94710
510-843-2473 (510-THE-BIRD)
http://www.albatrosspub.com/
21 and over
$5.00 Cover charge

The Albatross (aka The Bird) has been around since 1964. Current owners Wendy Halambeck and Linda Zsilavetz did a wonderful job of revitalizing the place without losing the charm it had. There are lots of board games available, lots of room for darts, a nice fireplace in the back, and food. It's a very friendly comfortable place. They now have a hard liquor license, so it is a great place to have a single malt scotch or the like.

Band personnel is TBA.
 

Sunday, ?, 7 PM to 10:30 PM - DATE TBA
Kurt Ribak Trio - Original Jazz
The Riptide
http://www.riptidesf.com
3639 Taraval @ 47th Ave. San Francisco

This is a way cool bar in the outer Sunset - in fact, it's almost at the Pacific Ocean.  It's a great dive bar co-owned by Les James, the drummer for one of my favorite country bands, Red Meat and for Plain High Drifters.  There is a strong hipster element, despite the location.  The band will be Greg Sankovich on piano and Randy Odell on drums, who will be playing there the previous Sunday, April 15, with The Cottontails.  We had a lot of fun playing here in April - it was nice to just relax, play music, and not worry about being too loud for some stockbroker trying to impress his date. They have good cheap drinks, folks are friendly, it's an easy place to hang out - how can you lose?
 
 

 

"One of the perks of being an unemployed musician is that you get to play much less bad music."
Jack Daney

You can check out mp3s of my music at http://www.ribak.com/mp3s.html. You can go to http://www.BayTaper.com to download our July 2, 2006 show at the Fillmore Jazz Festival.
 

Kurt as a sideman - aka - Other people's music

Here are some CDs I played on -

Alex Walsh's CD "Light Another Candle" is pop - a lot of it sounds like Mott the Hoople meets the Replacements to me. This was recorded in 2003. I play electric bass and upright on it.

Brian Schindele's CD The Moral is original straightahead jazz. I like it - the title tune kicks off the CD with some great drumming. This CD features Brian, drummer Tim Vaughan, Sheldon Brown on tenor sax, Tom Griesser playing sax on one track, Dave Scott on trumpet, cornet, and flugelhorn, Larry Leight on trombone, and Connie Champagne as featured guest vocalist on a ballad track.

I regularly play with Stephen Bigger at Moraga Valley Presbyterian Church, where he is music director. "Lights on the Horizon" is a CD of his contemporary Christian songwriting. Stephen sings lead on a number of the tunes, but he also features Amy Beth Nickelson and Katie O'Gorman, two very talented young members of the congregation at Moraga Valley.
 

We're like, all up in literature and stuff

Candy from Strangers

Mark Coggins is the author of the August Riordan series of mystery novels. The August Riordan character is a wise-cracking tough guy PI who is also a jazz bassist.

I got to know Coggins a while ago and he asked if he could use some of my music for a KQED podcast of "Candy from Strangers", the third book in the August Riordan series. William P. Arney of the Noir City Film Festival reads the first chapter with my music accompanying the story - specifically, "Prelude to a B Movie" and "Pseudoafrocubanismo," which appeared on the Kurt Ribak Trio debut CD.

The podcast is permanently at the following location: http://www.kqed.org/arts/writersblock/episode.jsp?id=13480

iTunes users can access The Writers' Block via the following URL: http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=82023860

The Writers' Block is also distributed through NPR here: http://www.npr.org/rss/podcast/podcast_detail.php?siteId=5593982

To go directly to the audio, use either of these:
stream: http://www.kqed.org/.stream/real/topics/arts/writers-block/0701-coggins-bloc k.rm.ram or
download: http://podcastdownload.npr.org/anon.npr-podcasts/podcast/151/510076/7092336/ KQED_7092336.mp3

PRIMA GIG GETS PRESS
We continue to play every Friday at Prima. Thanks to all of you who let Prima owner Peter Chastain know we have a following. A review of the Friday night bar scene appeared in the Feb. 8, 2007 edition of the Contra Costa Times, in which the Kurt Ribak Trio is described as "delicious."


Gig Mailing List

To join my mailing list, you are welcome to click on SubscribeGiglist and include the address where you want to receive the mail in the body of the message. You are encouraged to mention how you heard of me.

To get off the mailing list, just click UnsubscribeGiglist and include the address you want dropped from the mailing list in the body of the message.
 

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Gig announcement archives

2007 gigs
February '07 gigs January '07 gigs

2006 gigs
december '06 gigs november '06 gigs October '06 gigs September '06 gigs August '06 gigs June-early August '06 gigs June '06 gigs May '06 gigs April '06 gigs March '06 gigs February '06 gigs January '06 gigs

2005 gigs
December '05 gigsNovember '05 gigsOctober '05 gigsSeptember '05 gigs August '05 gigs July '05 gigs May / June '05 gigs May '05 gigs March '05 gigs February '05 gigs January '05 gigs

2004 gigs
February November February September August July June May May March February February
 

Music Videos - Old and Not So...

Reg Kehoe and his Marimba Queens
(better file) or YouTube version. The whole thing is something else! The first site has a much bigger file but it is a longer clip.

see... banjo does get the ladies all hot and bothered - check out this Eddie Peabody video

And for something just plain weird, we have....

The one and only... The Cramps! These guys have some brilliant videos.
Ultra Twist - it's warped and dumb but I love it!
Like a Bad Girl Should
Garbageman

Put Down the Duckie - Sesame Street

Cardboard Upright Bass

Other videos

Blixa Bargeld doing home improvement ads...

http://www.epica-awards.org/assets/epica/2004/finalists/film/flv/22012-1.htm
http://www.epica-awards.org/assets/epica/2004/finalists/film/flv/22012-2.htm
http://www.epica-awards.org/assets/epica/2004/finalists/film/flv/22012-3.htm
http://www.epica-awards.org/assets/epica/2004/finalists/film/flv/22012-4.htm

of mice and noses

Hello Cthulhu is what happens when you cross Hello Kitty with H.P. Lovecraft, with a special holiday greeting from Hello Cthulhu.

Jack Sheldon's "Jazz Christmas" is a seasonal gem.

And here is comic Rob Paravonian's rant about Pachelbel's Canon in D - great stuff if like me you are deeply sick of Pachelbel's Canon.

Bush Pilot - thanks to my pal David Javelosa for forwarding this to me.
 
 

My Bald Head

Here we have a website with a directory of musicians with bald/shaved heads. takeitfromthehead.com The site is maintained by Pete Levin, keyboardist for Gil Evans, Paul Simon, Jimmy Giuffre, Annie Lennox, Tony Levin Band, Lenny White and the brother of the famous bassist (also bald) Tony Levin. Pete Levin contacted me and asked if I would like to be on the site, so there I am, right up there with the pop singer Seal, the thrash-metal guitarist Kerry King of Slayer, and Dixieland clarinetist Pete Fountain.
:

Iggy Pop's performance contract


 
 


photo: Susan Bigger

photo: Mark Thomas

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