American bassist
Melvin Gibbs
Gibbs performing in 2014
Origin
Brooklyn , New York, U.S. Genres
Jazz fusion ,
alternative metal ,
funk rock ,
ambient ,
hip hop Occupation(s) Musician, composer, producer Instrument(s) Bass guitar Years active 1980–present Labels Livewired Music, Rage Member of
Black Rock Coalition Formerly of
Rollins Band ,
Defunkt , Eye and I Website
music .melvin-gibbs .com
Musical artist
Melvin Gibbs is an American bass guitarist who has appeared on close to 200 albums in diverse genres of music. Among others, Gibbs is known for working in jazz with drummer
Ronald Shannon Jackson and guitarist
Sonny Sharrock , and in rock music with
Rollins Band and
Arto Lindsay .
Career
Gibbs in a July 1980 performance in Paris, France
A native of Brooklyn, New York, Gibbs attended
Medgar Evers College and the
Brooklyn Conservatory of Music . After graduating from
Berklee College of Music ,
[1] Gibbs first came to public notice as a member of the group
Defunkt , which was a mainstay of the early 1980s downtown New York scene. Throughout most of the 1980s, he played in drummer
Ronald Shannon Jackson 's Decoding Society with guitarist
Vernon Reid and with guitarist
Sonny Sharrock and saxophonist
John Zorn . With Jackson and guitarist
Bill Frisell he was a member of the group Power Tools. 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.
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.
[1]
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 and was nominated for a
Grammy Award in 1995. Gibbs has also recorded with
hip-hop musician
Dead Prez , Brazilian musicians
Caetano Veloso and
Marisa Monte , Latin jazz musician
Eddie Palmieri , Nigerian musician
Femi Kuti , and guitarist
Marc Ribot . He has produced albums by guitarist
Arto Lindsay and turntablist
DJ Logic .
Gibbs formed the Punk-Funk All-Stars with
James Blood Ulmer , Defunkt leader
Joseph Bowie , Vernon Reid and Ronald Shannon Jackson. In 1998, Gibbs, guitarist
Brandon Ross , and drummer J.T. Lewis formed the trio
Harriet Tubman , which continues to perform concerts and record, as of 2023.
[2]
[3]
[4]
[5]
[6]
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 ; the Geechee Seminoles with percussionist David Pleasant;
[7] Zig Zag Power Trio with guitarist
Vernon Reid and drummer
Will Calhoun ;
God Particle with
cosmologist /saxophonist
Stephon Alexander , David Pleasant, and other musicians;
[8] and Melvin Gibbs Magnum.
[9]
Discography
As leader or co-leader
2003 The Rites with Burnt Sugar (
Greg Tate ),
Butch Morris ,
Pete Cosey (Avant Groidd Musica)
2004 Raw Meet with
Elliott Sharp ,
Lance Carter (
Intakt )
2009 Ancients Speak , as Melvin Gibbs' Elevated Entity (LiveWired; rereleased, Melvin Gibbs via bandcamp)
2010
Christian Marclay :
Graffiti Composition with Elliott Sharp,
Mary Halvorson ,
Lee Ranaldo ,
Vernon Reid
2010 Electric Willie: a Tribute to
Willie Dixon with Elliott Sharp,
Henry Kaiser ,
Eric Mingus [
de ] ,
Queen Esther ,
Glenn Phillips , Lance Carter (Yellowbird)
2011 "E-volution" single (rereleased later, Melvin Gibbs via
bandcamp )
2011 Phree-dem downloads (Melvin Gibbs via bandcamp)
2013 Crossing the Waters with Elliott Sharp,
Lucas Niggli [
de ] (Intakt)
[10]
2013 "Still Dreamin'" single (rereleased later, Melvin Gibbs via bandcamp)
2018 Zig Zag Power Trio with Vernon Reid,
Will Calhoun (Woodstock Sessions)
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 4 + 1 equals 5 for May 25 (Melvin Gibbs via bandcamp)
2021 FlyBoy's Bardo EZ Pass single (Melvin Gibbs via bandcamp)
2022 Anamibia Sessions Vol. 1: The Wave (
Editions Mego )
[11]
With
Defunkt
1980 Defunkt
1994 Live & Reunified
2005 Defunkt/Thermonuclear Sweat
[10]
With
Rollins Band
With Harriet Tubman
1998 I Am a Man (SlaveNo Mo'/
Knitting Factory )
[1]
[12]
2000 Prototype (
Avant )
2011 Ascension (
Sunnyside )
2011 Lucent Steps: Ascension Remix single (Melvin Gibbs via bandcamp)
2017 Araminta (Sunnyside)
2018: The Terror End of Beauty (Sunnyside)
[3]
[13]
Other bands
1987 Strange Meeting , Power Tools
2010 For You – For Us – For All , Socialybrium
As sideman
With
Jean-Paul Bourelly
1994 Saints & Sinners
1997 Fade to Cacophony: Live
2002 Trance Atlantic
[10]
With
DJ Logic
1999 Project Logic
2001 The Anomaly
2006 Zen of Logic
[10]
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
[10]
With
Marisa Monte
1991 Mais
1996 Barulhinho Bom (A Great Noise)
[10]
With
Sonny Sharrock
With
Moreno Veloso
2001 Music Typewriter
2014 Coisa Boa
[10]
With
Vitamin C
With
John Zorn
With others
1982 Sueño ,
Eddie Palmieri
1989 Come Together as One ,
Will Downing
1989 Unh! ,
Philip Tabane
1990 Metamorphosis ,
World Saxophone Quartet
1990 Rootless Cosmopolitans ,
Marc Ribot
1991 Circulado ,
Caetano Veloso
1991 Lust ,
Ambitious Lovers
1995 Very Neon Pet ,
Peter Scherer
1997 Terra Incognita ,
Chris Whitley
1998 Black Music ,
Chocolate Genius
1999 Mustango ,
Jean-Louis Murat
1999 Pasajes de un Sueno ,
Ana Torroja
1999 Return of Kill Dog E ,
Scotty Hard
2000 Let's Get Free ,
Dead Prez
2000 Menace to Sobriety ,
OPM
2003 Deeper Than Oceans ,
Kazufumi Miyazawa
2004 Ten ,
Ellery Eskelin
2010 The Art of Bellydance ,
Bellydance Superstars
[10]
2020 Marching Music ,
Dave Douglas (
Greenleaf )
References
^
a
b
c Layne, Joslyn (2012).
"Melvin Gibbs" . Allmusic . Retrieved January 6, 2012 .
^
"harriet tubman: the band" .
ReverbNation . 2018. Retrieved November 21, 2018 .
^
a
b Freitas, Filipe (November 19, 2018).
"Harriet Tubman: The Terror End of Beauty" . jazztrail. Retrieved November 21, 2018 .
^
"Harriet Tubman" .
bandsintown . November 2018. Archived from
the original on November 22, 2018. Retrieved November 21, 2018 .
^
"Harriet Tubman" . bandsintown. January 2022. Retrieved January 19, 2022 .
^
"Harriet Tubman: Thursday, Mar 17, 2022" .
Constellation . January 2022. Retrieved January 19, 2022 .
^
"The Geechee Seminoles" .
Tulane University . 2019. Retrieved June 14, 2019 .
^
"Melvin Gibbs & Stephon Alexander Premiere at The Vision Festival 2019" .
Bass Magazine . May 14, 2019. Retrieved June 14, 2019 .
^ Cohan, Brad (April 2, 2019).
"Melvin Gibbs Isn't Looking Back" .
Jazz Times . Retrieved May 3, 2019 .
^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
k
l
"Melvin Gibbs | Credits" . AllMusic . Retrieved December 12, 2018 .
^
Colter Walls, Seth (January 26, 2023).
"5 Classical Music Albums You Can Listen to Right Now" .
New York Times . Retrieved January 27, 2023 .
^
"Harriet Tubman: The Band" . Maurice Montoya Music Agency. 2017. Retrieved November 21, 2018 .
^
"Harriet Tubman: The Terror End of Beauty" .
The Wire . November 2018. Retrieved November 21, 2018 .
External links
Studio albums Compilation/outtakes albums Live albums Singles Related artists
International National Artists