Vocalist

“Joyous,” “grooving,” “bluesy,” “sophisticated,” and “masterful” could all be accurately use to describe bassist and composer Kurt Ribak’s music, but perhaps an assessment is best left to the man himself, who calls his rollicking mix of bebop sophistication and body-moving grooves “Charles Mingus meets The Meters.” Ribak performs a cross-section of his favorite jazz and country tunes, and music that bridges the two.

A Berkeley native, Ribak parlayed his formative musical experiences as a cellist and member of the San Francisco Boys Chorus into a passion for the bass, studying at Cal Berkeley and Boston’s Berklee College of Music before returning to the East Bay and establishing a well-deserved reputation as one of the most respected creative forces on the scene. At the top of his creative game, Ribak suffered a devastating injury in a 2012 car accident that shattered his left arm and led to a dozen surgeries, leaving the bassist’s musical future in serious doubt.

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Kurt Ribak: Jazz & Country

SFJAZZ Center

“Joyous,” “grooving,” “bluesy,” “sophisticated,” and “masterful” could all be accurately use to describe bassist and composer Kurt Ribak’s music, but perhaps an assessment is best left to the man himself, who calls his rollicking mix of bebop sophistication and body-moving grooves “Charles Mingus meets The Meters.” In a change of pace, Ribak presents an evening devoted to simmering Latin jazz with a band of the Bay Area’s best.

Kurt Ribak

Vocalist

Events

Upcoming events

May 17, 2025

Kurt Ribak · San Francisco Jazz

Past events

Jan 28, 2024

Kurt Ribak: Jazz & Country · San Francisco Jazz

About

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