''Requiem for What's His Name'' is the second album by

Marc Ribot Marc Ribot (; born May 21, 1954) is an American guitarist and composer. His work has touched on many styles, including no wave, free jazz, Rock music, rock, and Cuban music. Ribot is also known for collaborating with other musicians, most notab ...

& The Rootless Cosmopolitans which was released by the Belgian label Les Disques du Crepuscule in 1992.

Recording

The album was recorded in New York City at Sound on Sound Recording except "Commit a Crime" which was recorded live at Desi Stadtteilzentrum in

Nuremberg, Germany Nuremberg (, ; ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the Franconia#Towns and cities, largest city in Franconia, the List of cities in Bavaria by population, second-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Bav ...

. Ribot stated "On the next record, ''Requiem for What’s His Name'', the focus moved towards composition. It’s almost impossible to get hold of it. I was interested in Balkan music at the time, certain ritual music ... in finding stuff I could do without ironic distance. For example, on ''Requiem for What’s His Name'', I covered “Sometimes I Feel like a Motherless Child,” one of the sadder songs in the world. I couldn’t do it without distance, but I wanted to make that distance painful, bring it to some kind of breaking point".Krasnow, D
Marc Ribot Interview

Bomb A bomb is an explosive weapon that uses the exothermic reaction of an explosive material to provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy. Detonations inflict damage principally through ground- and atmosphere-transmitted mechan ...

, accessed November 25, 2019

Reception

The

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

review by Brian Beatty awarded the album 4 stars, stating, "On his second release as a bandleader, guitarist Marc Ribot is joined by players familiar from his gigs as a hired sideman, including saxophonist Roy Nathanson of the Lounge Lizards and the Jazz Passengers and multi-reed player Ralph Carney from Tom Waits' touring band. Though less swinging and fresh than 1990's ''Rootless Cosmopolitans'', this album's original compositions and renditions of Duke Ellington and Howlin' Wolf tunes still leave plenty of room for Ribot's discordant guitar stylings".Beatty, B.
Allmusic Review
accessed June 12, 2011

Track listing

All compositions are by Marc Ribot, except where indicated otherwise. # "Requiem for What's His Name" – 4:29 # "Disposable Head" – 2:50 # "Clever White Youths" – 4:30 # "First Time Every Time" – 2:01 # " Motherless Child" (Anonymous) – 1:06 # "New" – 4:18 # "Reveille" – 1:08 # "Lamonte's Nightmare" (

Anthony Coleman Anthony Coleman (born August 30, 1955) is an American composer and avant-garde jazz pianist. During the 1980s and 1990s he worked with John Zorn on ''Cobra'', ''Kristallnacht'', ''The Big Gundown'', ''Archery'', and '' Spillane'' and helped push ...

) – 5:56 # "March" – 2:00 # "Pony" (Ribot, Coleman) – 2:14 # "Yo, I Killed Your God" – 2:39 # "Commit A Crime" (

Chester Burnett Chester Arthur Burnett (June 10, 1910January 10, 1976), better known by his stage name Howlin' Wolf, was an American blues singer, guitarist and harmonica player. He was at the forefront of transforming acoustic Delta blues into electric Chica ...

) – 3:19 # "

Caravan Caravan or caravans may refer to: Transport and travel *Campervan, a type of vehicle also known as a motor caravan *Caravan (travellers), a group of travellers journeying together **Caravanserai, a place where a caravan could stop *Caravan (trail ...

" (

Juan Tizol Juan Tizol Martínez (22 January 1900 – 23 April 1984) was a Puerto Rican jazz trombonist and composer. He is best known as a member of Duke Ellington's big band, and for writing the jazz standards " Caravan", "Pyramid", and " Perdido". ...

Duke Ellington Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American Jazz piano, jazz pianist, composer, and leader of his eponymous Big band, jazz orchestra from 1924 through the rest of his life. Born and raised in Washington, D ...

Irving Mills Irving Harold Mills (born Isadore Minsky; January 18, 1894 Odessa, Ukraine – April 21, 1985) was a music publisher, musician, lyricist, and jazz promoter. He often used the pseudonyms Goody Goodwin and Joe Primrose. Personal life Mills ...

) – 3:48 # "Blues" – 3:11 # "1 Adolph 12" (Ribot, Jones) – 6:57

Personnel

– guitars, vocals, E-flat horn, piano, drum sequencing *Wilbo Wright (1, 2, 7–8, 11, 13) – detuned guitar (on (1)), bass *

Roy Nathanson Roy Jay Nathanson (born May 17, 1951) is an American saxophonist, composer, bandleader, and teacher. He became the leader and principal composer of the Jazz Passengers, a six piece group that he founded with Curtis Fowlkes in 1987. They have tou ...

(1, 2, 4, 6, 9, 13, 15) – soprano, chermia, alto, tenor *

Ralph Carney Ralph Carney (January 23, 1956 – December 17, 2017) was an American multi-instrumentalist, singer and composer. While his primary instruments were various saxophones and clarinets, Carney also collected and played many instruments, often un ...

(1–4, 6–9, 11–12, 14) – alto, sona, tenor, clarinet, assorted duck calls *

(1–3, 6–8, 10–14) – pump organ, sampler, piano, organ * Simeon Cain (1–4, 6–9, 11, 13, 15) – drums, percussion, drum overdubs *

Syd Straw Syd Straw is an American rock singer and songwriter. She began her career singing backup for Pat Benatar, then took her distinctive and powerful voice to the indie/alternative scene and joined the ever-evolving line-up of Golden Palominos fro ...

(3, 10) – background vocals, vocals *

Zeena Parkins Zeena Parkins (born 1956) is an American composer and multi-instrumentalist active in experimental, free improvised, contemporary classical, and avant-jazz music; she is known for having "reinvented the harp". Parkins performs on standard har ...

(6) – electric harp * Brad Jones (6, 15) – bass *Greg Jones (12, 14) – bass * Rock Savage (12, 14) – drums *J.D. Parran (15) – clarinet

References

{{Authority control 1992 albums Marc Ribot albums