Search - Greg Ribot, Cumbia Del Norte :: International Conspiracy

When Greg Ribot's brother, Marc, released his offbeat tribute to Cuban bandleader Arsenio Rodriguez, he pulled off a genuine coup. Ribot's shard-edged guitar fit unexpectedly well with the traditional Cuban rhythms his band played, and the CD was a critical and commercial success. Maybe that's why saxophonist Greg recruited brother Marc to play in his Cumbia del Norte band, which sinks its feet into the cumbia with its collective heart on its sleeve. Greg Ribot's clarinet leads the pack, taking looping solos across the quintet of percussionists as the other Ribot and Francisco Navarro pair guitars to give the songs a stringy, strummy feel and added rhythmic pulse. Hector Zarzuela's trumpet and Luis Lopez's trombone add an even fatter horn riff backing that plays off the band the way Duke Ellington might've dramatized this affair. It's not all roses, with "Hot in the Shade" and its pan pipes aerating the music too much, but "Cowboy Cumbia" sounds delightedly like the brothers Ribot meeting at the crossroads of Cuba and the Wild West. --Andrew Bartlett