Shoe String Symphonettes is a 1997 album of film music by Marc Ribot

Marc Ribot

Marc Ribot born May 21, 1954) is an American guitarist and composer.His own work has touched on many styles, including no wave, free jazz, and Cuban music. Ribot is also known for collaborating with other musicians, most notably Tom Waits, Elvis Costello, and composer John Zorn.-Biography:Ribot was...

 released on Tzadik Records

Tzadik Records

Tzadik Records is a record label based in New York City specialising in avant-garde and experimental music. The label was established by the eclectic composer and saxophonist John Zorn in 1995; Zorn is the executive producer of all Tzadik releases...

.

Reception

The Allmusic review by Sean Cooper awarded the album 3 stars stating "Symphonettes features some of Ribot's most compelling work to date, both creatively augmenting the originals and sketching out cinematic spaces more or less autonomous from the films they were inspired by".

Track listing

All compositions are by Marc Ribot except where noted.

1. "Looks Like Hell" – 2:17
2. "Hitman" – 2:07
3. "Aelita Suite I: Martian/Lost in Space/More Martians/Harping and Burning/Prepare for Landing" – 6:46
4. "Montuno" – 3:28
5. "Bells" (Albert Ayler
   Albert Ayler
   Albert Ayler was an American avant-garde jazz saxophonist, singer and composer.Ayler was among the most primal of the free jazz musicians of the 1960s; critic John Litweiler wrote that "never before or since has there been such naked aggression in jazz" He possessed a deep blistering tone—achieved...
   
   ) – 1:07
6. "Aelita Suite II: Martian Telescope/Men of Science" – 3:05
7. "Before the Prison Riot" – 3:28
8. "You Kill Him" – 5:01
9. "Surf's Down" – 1:27
10. "Paul's There" – 2:22
11. "Did You?" – 2:05
12. "Aelita Suite III: A Message from Mars/Martian Battle/Avante Popolo" – 6:54
13. "End Credits (Landlord Blues)" – 2:12
14. "End Credits (Death By Unnatural Causes)" – 2:54

• Tracks 1, 5 and 14 were recorded at Bear Track, New York City for the short film Death By Unnatural Causes (1991).
• Tracks 2, 4 and 13 were recorded at Studio Crisp, New York City for the film Landlord Blues.
• Tracks 3, 6 and 12 were recorded live at the Meltdown Festival, Royal Festival Hall, London in 1995 and used in the film Aelita, Queen of Mars. The end of track 12 was recorded live at the Knitting Factory
  Knitting Factory
  The Knitting Factory is a music venue and concert house with locations in Brooklyn, Boise, Reno, and Spokane. The club originally specialized in jazz and experimental music and has expanded to showcasing all genres of music, performing arts and comedy....
  
  , New York City.
• Tracks 7, 8, 10 and 11 were recorded at Studio 900, New York City in 1996 for the film Pieces from an Incomplete Project.
• Track 9 was recorded at Splash Studios, New York City in 1993 for the film Summer Salt.

Personnel

• Marc Ribot
  Marc Ribot
  Marc Ribot born May 21, 1954) is an American guitarist and composer.His own work has touched on many styles, including no wave, free jazz, and Cuban music. Ribot is also known for collaborating with other musicians, most notably Tom Waits, Elvis Costello, and composer John Zorn.-Biography:Ribot was...
  
   – guitars, sampler, trumpet, banjo, E-flat horn
• Greg Cohen
  Greg Cohen
  A native of Los Angeles, bassist Greg Cohen has been playing in various acclaimed music groups since the '60s. He is perhaps best known for his work with John Zorn's Masada quartet; more recently he has been touring with Ornette Coleman, and performed on Coleman's much-praised Sound Grammar...
  
   (1, 14) – bass
• Jill Jaffe (1, 7, 8, 10, 11, 14) – violin, viola
• Brad Jones (2, 4, 13) – bass
• Bill Ware (2, 4, 13) – vibraphone
• Curtis Fowlkes
  Curtis Fowlkes
  Curtis Fowlkes is an American jazz trombonist. In 1987 he founded, together with saxophonist Roy Nathanson, The Jazz Passengers, an eclectic group dedicated to putting entertainment and humor back into jazz. The two had met performing in John Lurie's The Lounge Lizards, a group that shares a...
  
   (2, 4, 13) – trombone
• Jim Nolet (2, 4, 13) – violin
• Roy Nathanson (2, 4, 13) – saxophone
• E.J. Rodriguez (2, 4, 13) – drums, percussion
• Gregory Ribot (2, 4, 13) – flute
• Paul Clarvis (3, 6, 12) – drums, percussion
• Dave Maric
  Dave Maric
  Dave Maric is a British composer and musician.Born in Bedford, England to Greek and Bosnian immigrants, he moved to London in 1988 where he studied at City University. During the 1990s he regularly performed and recorded as a jazz and classical pianist with a number of new music ensembles...
  
   (3, 6, 12) – keyboards
• Phil Boyden (3, 6, 12) – violin
• Helen Thomas (3, 6, 12) – cello
• Mike Kearsey (3, 6, 12) – trombone
• Anthony Coleman
  Anthony Coleman
  Anthony Coleman is an American musician. Coleman is a piano and keys player, trombonist and vocalist mainly working within the free improvised and avant-garde jazz scenes in downtown New York during the late 1970s through to the present day.His greatest impact was during the 80s and 90s when he...
  
   (12b) – organ
• Ikue Mori
  Ikue Mori
  , also known as Ikue Ile, is a drummer, composer, and graphic designer.-Biography:Ikue Mori was born and raised in Japan. She says she had little interest in music before hearing punk rock...
  
   (12b) – percussion
• Jim Staley (12b) – trombone
• Dave Douglas
  Dave Douglas (trumpeter)
  Dave Douglas is an American jazz trumpeter and composer whose music derives from many non-jazz musical styles, including classical music, folk music from European countries and Klezmer. He has been a member of the experimental big band Orange Then Blue...
  
   (7, 8, 10, 11) – trumpet
• Vicki Bodner (7, 8, 10, 11) – oboe
• Charlie Giordano (7, 8, 10, 11) – piano, keyboards
• Mauro Refosco (7, 8, 10, 11) – percussion
• Maxine Neuman (7, 8, 10, 11) – cello
• Tony Garnier
  Tony Garnier (musician)
  Tony Garnier is an American bassist , best known as an accompanist to Bob Dylan, with whom he has played since 1989...
  
   (7, 8, 10, 11) – bass
• John Zorn
  John Zorn
  John Zorn is an American avant-garde composer, arranger, record producer, saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist. Zorn is a prolific artist: he has hundreds of album credits as performer, composer, or producer...
  
   (9) – saxophone
• Andy Haas (9) – saxophone
• Cyro Baptista
  Cyro Baptista
  Cyro Baptista is a Brazilian musician, teacher, and recording artist specializing in percussion in the genres of jazz and world music....
  
  (9) – drums