Legendary guitarist Marc Ribot presents new work with Shahzad Ismaily on drums, guitar, and harmonium in celebration of his record Map of a Blue City.

Marc Ribot will release Map of a Blue City on May 23, 2025 via New West Records. The 9-song set was produced and mixed by Ben Greenberg based on original studio sessions produced by Hal Willner, as well as home recordings. Most renowned as a wildly inventive guitarist who has collaborated with Tom Waits, Elvis Costello, John Zorn, Wilson Pickett, Marianne Faithfull, Caetano Veloso, Solomon Burke, Robert Plant & Alison Krauss, Neko Case, among many, many others, Map of a Blue City features Ribot’s imaginative playing and leads to what may be his definitive statement as an instrumentalist, as a songwriter, and even as a singer. While it’s not a traditional singer-songwriter album, it is his first to center his plaintive, wise voice quite so prominently throughout. Map of a Blue City showcases songs colliding disparate traditions: roots, bossa nova, no wave, noise, free jazz, and sounds that have no genre associations. Mostly featuring original compositions, the collection includes Ribot’s rendition of the Carter Family’s “When the World’s on Fire” as well as his treatment of Allen Ginsberg’s 1949 poem, “Sometime Jailhouse Blues.”

Marc Ribot has been living with Map of a Blue City for nearly thirty years. He wrote some of the songs in the 1990s and made home recordings that were all the more intimate and immediate for being so lo-fi. The record ruminated on what it means to be lost—the confusion and fear, of course, but also the excitement of so many undreamt-of possibilities. Its history is an odd map of its own, full of false starts, blind alleys, and dead ends. The album bears the weight of its history gracefully, incorporating recordings made over nearly half of his life and reflecting on how he got to this particular moment.

A livestream will be available free of charge at 8pm on the day of the performance and archived for future viewing. Watch below or on YouTube.

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Enigmatic guitarist Marc Ribot has released 6 very diverse solo guitar albums: (including John Zorn’s Book of Heads, Plays the Works of Frantz Casseus, Saints, Don’t Blame Me, Exercises in Futility) and 2010’s, Silent Movies (Pi Recordings) has been described as a “down-in-mouth-near master piece” by the Village Voice and has landed on several Best of 2010 lists including the LA Times and critical praise across the board. His live solo performances are unpredictable events which may draw on all of these or none, creating a sonic matrix of memory, free improvisation, zeitgeist, extra-terrestrial radio signals, and much more…always leaving the listener on the edge of their seats.

“In the hear-a-pin-drop setting of Cafe Oto, Ribot’s intense, heartfelt commitment invited not only the closest of listening but also allowed scrutiny of his technical approach, offering a minor spectacle as well as a rare, transportative musical experience.” – London Jazz News

“In discussing the guitarist Marc Ribot, it’s more efficient to wonder what he hasn’t done then to list what he has actually accomplished. Across four decades, Ribot’s career has spanned smooth soul and gnarled blues, blaring no wave and elegant film scores, solo composer roles and Tom Waits ing work; that’s only a sliver of his prolificacy…Though his solo range is only slightly less boundless than his overall discography, he favors quiet, intricate improvisations around standards that you will recognize in flashes but will rarely sound repetitive of their sources. Ribot is a master of timing, tone, and taste, with a bank of experiences so vast and varied he can navigate his way through any song or situation with panache. Consider this visit a master lesson.” – IndyWeek