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Melvin Gibbs

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Melvin Gibbs
Gibbs performing in 2014
Gibbs performing in 2014
Background information
OriginBrooklyn, New York, U.S.
EducationMedgar Evers College; Brooklyn Conservatory of Music
GenresJazz fusion, alternative metal, funk rock, ambient, hip hop
Occupation(s)Musician, composer, producer
InstrumentBass guitar
Years active1980–present
LabelsLivewired Music, Rage
Member ofHarriet Tubman
Formerly ofRollins Band, Defunkt, Eye and I, Black Rock Coalition
Websitemelvin-gibbs.bandcamp.com

Melvin Gibbs is an American bass guitarist who has appeared on close to 200 albums in diverse genres of music.[1][2] Among others, Gibbs is known for working in jazz with drummer Ronald Shannon Jackson[3] and guitarist Sonny Sharrock,[1] and in rock music with Rollins Band[4] and Arto Lindsay.[5] He is a member of the band Harriet Tubman,[6] with whom he was included in the New York Times list of best performances of 2017,[7] and Body Meπa, recognized in Bandcamp Daily's best experimental music of 2024.[8]

Career

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Gibbs in a July 1980 performance in Paris, France

Melvin Gibbs was born on May 25, 1958.[9] A native of Brooklyn, New York,[10] Gibbs attended Medgar Evers College[1] and the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music.[11] He first came to public notice as a member of the group Defunkt, which was a mainstay of the early 1980s downtown New York scene.[1] Throughout the 1980s, he played in drummer Ronald Shannon Jackson's Decoding Society, with guitarist Vernon Reid,[12] and with guitarist Sonny Sharrock[13] and saxophonist John Zorn.[14][15] With Jackson and guitarist Bill Frisell, Gibbs was a member of the group Power Tools.[16] Gibbs co-led the band Eye and I with D.K. Dyson who also co-founded the Black Rock Coalition of which he is an original member.[10]

Gibbs took on the role of record producer while with the Rollins Band in the 1990s. He worked in that capacity, producing records for other artists on Rage Records.[17]

He was a member of the avant-metal Rollins Band from 1993 to about 1998 and again in 2006 when the group briefly reformed. As a member of the Rollins Band, he performed at Woodstock '94 in 1994[4] and was nominated for a Grammy Award in 1995.[18] Gibbs has also recorded with hip-hop duo Dead Prez,[19] Brazilian musicians Caetano Veloso[2] and Marisa Monte,[20] Latin jazz musician Eddie Palmieri,[2] Nigerian musician Femi Kuti,[1] and guitarist Marc Ribot.[21] Gibbs has produced albums by turntablist DJ Logic[22] and guitarist Arto Lindsay, who has referred to Gibbs as his "closest collaborator".[23]

Gibbs formed the Punk-Funk All-Stars with James Blood Ulmer, Defunkt leader Joseph Bowie, Vernon Reid and Ronald Shannon Jackson.[24] In 1998, Gibbs, guitarist Brandon Ross, and drummer J.T. Lewis formed the trio Harriet Tubman.[25]

Ancients Speak, the first album by Melvin Gibbs' Elevated Entity, was released on March 17, 2009, by Livewired Music. In 2009, he joined the group SociaLybrium with Bernie Worrell of Parliament-Funkadelic, DeWayne "Blackbyrd" McKnight, and J.T. Lewis. The group's album For You/For Us/For All was released by Livewired in December 2009.

Gibbs' other projects include Melvin Runs the Hoodoo Down with guitarist Pete Cosey and keyboard player John Medeski;[1] the Geechee Seminoles with percussionist David Pleasant;[26] Zig Zag Power Trio with guitarist Vernon Reid and drummer Will Calhoun;[1] God Particle with cosmologist/saxophonist Stephon Alexander, David Pleasant, and other musicians;[27] and Melvin Gibbs Magnum.[28]

Discography

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As leader

[edit]
Year Artist Title Label
2009 Melvin Gibbs' Elevated Entity Ancients Speak[29] LiveWired
2011 Melvin Gibbs Phree-dem downloads
2021 Melvin Gibbs 4 + 1 equals 5 for May 25
2022 Melvin Gibbs Anamibia Sessions Vol. 1: The Wave[30] Editions Mego

As co-leader

[edit]
Year Artist Title Label Personnel
1987 Power Tools Strange Meeting Antilles New Directions Gibbs, Ronald Shannon Jackson, Bill Frisell
1998 Harriet Tubman I Am a Man[31] SlaveNo Mo'/Knitting Factory Gibbs, Brandon Ross, J.T. Lewis
2000 Harriet Tubman Prototype Avant Gibbs, Ross, Lewis
2004 Sharp / Gibbs / Carter Raw Meet Intakt Gibbs, Elliott Sharp, Lance Carter
2010 Socialybrium For You – For Us – For All LiveWired Gibbs, Bernie Worrell, DeWayne McKnight, Lewis
2011 Harriet Tubman Ascension Sunnyside Gibbs, Ross, Lewis
2013 Sharp / Gibbs / Niggli Crossing the Waters Intakt Gibbs, Sharp, Lucas Niggli [de]
2017 Harriet Tubman Araminta Sunnyside Gibbs, Ross, Lewis
2018 Zig Zag Power Trio Woodstock Sessions' Woodstock Sessions Gibbs, Vernon Reid, Will Calhoun
2018 Harriet Tubman The Terror End of Beauty[25][32] Sunnyside Gibbs, Ross, Lewis
2021 Body Meπa The Work Is Slow[33] Hausu Mountain Gibbs, Greg Fox, Sasha Frere-Jones, Grey Mcmurray
2024 Body Meπa Prayer in Dub[8] Hausu Mountain Gibbs, Fox, Frere-Jones, Mcmurray

Singles

[edit]
  • 2011: "E-volution" single (rereleased later, Melvin Gibbs via bandcamp)
  • 2011: Lucent Steps: Ascension Remix single (Melvin Gibbs via bandcamp)
  • 2013: "Still Dreamin'" single (rereleased later, Melvin Gibbs via bandcamp)
  • 2020: "Holy Ground: 38th and Chicago – initial thoughts" single (Melvin Gibbs via bandcamp)
  • 2021: "It's Been a Long Time Coming" single (Melvin Gibbs via bandcamp)
  • 2021: FlyBoy's Bardo EZ Pass single (Melvin Gibbs via bandcamp)

As sideman

[edit]

With Defunkt

  • 1980: Defunkt
  • 1994: Live & Reunified
  • 2005: Defunkt/Thermonuclear Sweat

With Rollins Band

With Jean-Paul Bourelly

  • 1994: Saints & Sinners
  • 1997: Fade to Cacophony: Live
  • 2002: Trance Atlantic

With DJ Logic

  • 1999: Project Logic
  • 2001: The Anomaly
  • 2006: Zen of Logic

With Ronald Shannon Jackson

With Arto Lindsay

  • 1995: Aggregates 1-26
  • 1996: Mundo Civilizado
  • 1996: Subtle Body
  • 1998: Noon Chill
  • 1999: Prize
  • 2000: Ecomixes
  • 2002: Invoke
  • 2004: Salt
  • 2014: Encyclopedia of Arto
  • 2017: Cuidado Madame

With Marisa Monte

  • 1991: Mais
  • 1996: Barulhinho Bom (A Great Noise)[34]

With Sonny Sharrock

With Moreno Veloso

  • 2001: Music Typewriter
  • 2014: Coisa Boa

With Vitamin C

  • 1999: Vitamin C
  • 2000: More

With John Zorn

With others

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c d e f g Cohan, Brad (August 18, 2024). "Melvin Gibbs Isn't Looking Back". JazzTimes. Retrieved January 29, 2025.
  2. ^ a b c "Melvin Gibbs: Credits". AllMusic.com. Retrieved January 29, 2025.
  3. ^ Smith, Steve (October 22, 2013). "Ronald Shannon Jackson, Composer and Avant-Garde Drummer, Dies at 73". The New York Times. Retrieved January 29, 2025.
  4. ^ a b Shoemer, Karen (November 6, 1994). "Punk Mogul: Henry Rollins". The New York Times. Retrieved January 29, 2025.
  5. ^ Shatz, Adam (October 3, 1999). "MUSIC: Crossing Music's Borders In Search Of Identity; Downtown, a Reach For Ethnicity". The New York Times. Retrieved January 29, 2025.
  6. ^ Russonello, Giovanni (May 24, 2017). "The Jazz Trio Harriet Tubman in a 'We Resist' Concert". The New York Times. Retrieved January 29, 2025.
  7. ^ Russonello, Giovanni (December 13, 2017). "The Best Live Jazz Performances of 2017". The New York Times. Retrieved January 29, 2025.
  8. ^ a b Masters, Marc (December 17, 2024). "The Best Experimental Music of 2024". Bandcamp Daily. Retrieved January 29, 2025.
  9. ^ interview of Melvin Gibbs by David Mittleman for his WFMU radio show Observations of Deviance (conducted on September 16, 2025, broadcast on October 11, 2025 and archived on the WFMU website). https://wfmu.org/playlists/shows/157028
  10. ^ a b "Below the Radar 29". The Wire. November 2018. Retrieved January 29, 2025.
  11. ^ Oksenhorn, Stewart (June 9, 2013). "Another side of 'Dark Side' at Snowmass Mammoth Festival". Aspen Times. Retrieved January 29, 2025.
  12. ^ "Ronald Shannon Jackson and the Decoding Society - Live at the North Sea Jazz Festival 1983 (The Decoding Society, 2021) ****½". The Free Jazz Collective. September 9, 2021. Retrieved January 29, 2025.
  13. ^ "Melvin Gibbs and Sonny Sharrock". The Wire (73). March 1990. Retrieved January 29, 2025.
  14. ^ "John Zorn: Spillane". AllMusic.com. Retrieved January 29, 2025.
  15. ^ "John Zorn: FilmWorks: 1986-1990". AllMusic.com. Retrieved January 29, 2025.
  16. ^ Watrous, Peter (September 13, 1988). "Reviews/Music; The Band Power Tools Blends Sounds of Jazz". The New York Times. Retrieved January 29, 2025.
  17. ^ Layne, Joslyn (2012). "Melvin Gibbs". Allmusic. Retrieved January 6, 2012.
  18. ^ "Melvin Gibbs". Grammy.com. Retrieved January 29, 2025.
  19. ^ "Dead Prez: Let's Get Free". AllMusic.com. Retrieved January 29, 2025.
  20. ^ Woodard, Josef (June 1, 1997). "Marisa Monte: A Great Noise". JazzTimes. Retrieved January 29, 2025.
  21. ^ Pareles, Jon (October 15, 1992). "Pop and Jazz in Review". The New York Times. Retrieved January 29, 2025.
  22. ^ "DJ Logic: Project Logic". AllMusic.com. Retrieved January 29, 2025.
  23. ^ Williams, K. Leander (September 16, 2022). "Arto Lindsay with Melvin Gibbs". The New Yorker. Retrieved January 29, 2025.
  24. ^ Walters, John L. (July 17, 2006). "Punk-Funk All Stars Trio Beyond". The Guardian. Retrieved January 29, 2025.
  25. ^ a b Freitas, Filipe (November 19, 2018). "Harriet Tubman: The Terror End of Beauty". jazztrail. Retrieved November 21, 2018.
  26. ^ "The Geechee Seminoles". Tulane University. 2019. Retrieved June 14, 2019.[permanent dead link]
  27. ^ "Melvin Gibbs & Stephon Alexander Premiere at The Vision Festival 2019". Bass Magazine. May 14, 2019. Retrieved June 14, 2019.
  28. ^ Cohan, Brad (April 2, 2019). "Melvin Gibbs Isn't Looking Back". Jazz Times. Retrieved May 3, 2019.
  29. ^ Greenlee, Steve (April 1, 2009). "Melvin Gibbs' Elevated Entity: Ancients Speak". JazzTimes. Archived from the original on September 29, 2020. Retrieved January 29, 2025.
  30. ^ Colter Walls, Seth (January 26, 2023). "5 Classical Music Albums You Can Listen to Right Now". The New York Times. Retrieved January 27, 2023.
  31. ^ "Harriet Tubman: The Band". Maurice Montoya Music Agency. 2017. Retrieved November 21, 2018.
  32. ^ "Harriet Tubman: The Terror End of Beauty". The Wire. November 2018. Retrieved November 21, 2018.
  33. ^ Kim, Joshua Minsoo (June 4, 2021). "Body Meπa: The Work Is Slow". Pitchfork. Retrieved January 29, 2025.
  34. ^ a b "Melvin Gibbs Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved December 12, 2018.
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