Julian Lage and Mark Ribot at SF JAZZ: 2025
Pairing Julian Lage and Mark Ribot creates fascinating contrast. Lage represents contemporary jazz guitar's melodic, harmonically sophisticated approach. Ribot brings decades of avant-garde experimentation, having worked with Tom Waits, John Zorn, and countless others exploring guitar's noisier possibilities. Together they demonstrated that jazz guitar encompasses far more than any single stylistic approach.
Two Approaches to the Instrument
Julian Lage emerged as child prodigy, appeared in the documentary "Jules at Eight," and developed into one of the most respected jazz guitarists working today. His playing combines technical precision with melodic invention. He understands harmony deeply but uses that knowledge to serve musical expression rather than showcase theoretical knowledge.
Lage's tone is clean and articulate, allowing every note to speak clearly. He can play bebop lines with fluidity, explore ballads with sensitivity, and incorporate country, bluegrass, and rock influences when appropriate. His albums as bandleader show continual growth and stylistic expansion.
Mark Ribot has spent decades proving guitar can be aggressive, dissonant, and texturally explorative while serving musical purposes. His work with Tom Waits provided percussive, atmospheric textures. With John Zorn's Masada, he explored Jewish musical traditions through jazz improvisation. His own projects range from Cuban music to experimental noise.
Ribot's approach embraces what some might consider guitar's limitations or flaws. Feedback, distortion, unconventional techniques all become expressive tools. He's not interested in pretty sounds; he's interested in sounds that communicate emotion and ideas.
The Conversation
The performance began with a mix of standards and original compositions providing frameworks for improvisation. Lage established melodic themes that Ribot deconstructed and commented on. At other times, Ribot created textural beds for Lage's lyrical playing to navigate.
The beauty of two-guitar format is the interplay. They can create counterpoint, trade phrases, layer rhythms, or create harmonic density. With musicians this skilled, those possibilities expand exponentially.
The generational difference adds dimension. Lage absorbed bebop, post-bop, and contemporary jazz influences. Ribot came up through downtown New York's experimental scene, punk, and various avant-garde movements. Their musical vocabularies overlap but include distinct elements.
SF JAZZ as Meeting Ground
SF JAZZ programs adventurous jazz alongside more traditional approaches. Booking Lage and Ribot together shows institutional willingness to present guitar in its full range rather than favoring single stylistic approach.
The venue's acoustics serve both players well. Lage's articulate playing benefits from clarity, and Ribot's more aggressive approach needs space to breathe without becoming muddy.
Cross-Generational Exchange
When musicians from different generations collaborate respectfully, knowledge transfers both directions. Ribot brings historical perspective and decades of experimental exploration. Lage brings contemporary approaches and fresh perspectives on tradition.
This isn't master-student relationship; it's peer collaboration acknowledging different strengths and experiences. That mutual respect creates conditions for genuine musical discovery.
The Guitar's Range
One instrument, infinite possibilities. Classical guitar, flamenco, blues, jazz, rock, experimental noise, all fundamentally the same instrument used in radically different ways. Lage and Ribot together demonstrated that range while staying within jazz's broad boundaries.
The Verdict
Julian Lage and Mark Ribot at SF JAZZ showed jazz guitar's breadth through two masters working from different premises toward shared goals of improvisation, expression, and musical communication.
If you believe jazz encompasses multiple valid approaches, if generational exchange interests you, if guitar's versatility fascinates you, this pairing delivered insights impossible from either musician alone.
Thank you both for proving that different approaches can coexist productively rather than competing for legitimacy.