Melvin Gibbs

{{Infobox musical artist

| name = Melvin Gibbs

| image = Melvin Gibbs TFF 2014 (cropped).JPG

| caption = Gibbs performing in 2014

| birth_date =

| genre = Jazz fusion, alternative metal, funk rock, ambient, hip hop

| occupation = Musician, composer, producer

| origin = Brooklyn, New York, U.S.

| instrument = Bass guitar

| years_active = 1980–present

| label = Livewired Music, Rage

| current_member_of = Harriet Tubman

| past_member_of = Rollins Band, Defunkt, {{nowrap|Eye and I}}, Black Rock Coalition

| website = {{URL|https://melvin-gibbs.bandcamp.com}}

}}

Melvin Gibbs is an American bass guitarist who has appeared on close to 200 albums in diverse genres of music.{{cite web |last1=Cohan |first1=Brad |title=Melvin Gibbs Isn't Looking Back |url=https://jazztimes.com/features/profiles/melvin-gibbs-isnt-looking-back/ |website=JazzTimes |access-date=29 January 2025 |date=18 August 2024}}{{cite web |title=Melvin Gibbs: Credits |url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/melvin-gibbs-mn0000415158#credits |website=AllMusic.com |access-date=29 January 2025}} Among others, Gibbs is known for working in jazz with drummer Ronald Shannon Jackson{{cite web |last1=Smith |first1=Steve |title=Ronald Shannon Jackson, Composer and Avant-Garde Drummer, Dies at 73 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/23/arts/music/ronald-shannon-jackson-avant-garde-drummer-dies-at-73.html |website=The New York Times |access-date=29 January 2025 |date=22 October 2013}} and guitarist Sonny Sharrock, and in rock music with Rollins Band{{cite web |last1=Shoemer |first1=Karen |title=Punk Mogul: Henry Rollins |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/11/06/magazine/punk-mogul-henry-rollins.html |website=The New York Times |access-date=29 January 2025 |date=6 November 1994}} and Arto Lindsay.{{cite web |last1=Shatz |first1=Adam |title=MUSIC: Crossing Music's Borders In Search Of Identity; Downtown, a Reach For Ethnicity |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/10/03/arts/music-crossing-music-s-borders-search-identity-downtown-reach-for-ethnicity.html |website=The New York Times |access-date=29 January 2025 |date=3 October 1999}} He is a member of Harriet Tubman,{{cite web |last1=Russonello |first1=Giovanni |title=The Jazz Trio Harriet Tubman in a 'We Resist' Concert |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/24/arts/music/the-jazz-trio-harriet-tubman-in-a-we-resist-concert.html |website=The New York Times |access-date=29 January 2025 |date=24 May 2017}} with whom he was included in the New York Times' best performances of 2017,{{cite web |last1=Russonello |first1=Giovanni |title=The Best Live Jazz Performances of 2017 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/13/arts/music/best-live-jazz-performances.html |website=The New York Times |access-date=29 January 2025 |date=13 December 2017}} and Body Meπa, recognized in Bandcamp Daily's best experimental music of 2024.{{cite web |last1=Masters |first1=Marc |title=The Best Experimental Music of 2024 |url=https://daily.bandcamp.com/best-of-2024/the-best-experimental-music-of-2024 |website=Bandcamp Daily |access-date=29 January 2025 |date=17 December 2024}}

Career

File:Melvin Gibbs.jpg

A native of Brooklyn, New York,{{cite web |title=Below the Radar 29 |url=https://www.thewire.co.uk/audio/btr/below-the-radar-29/3 |website=The Wire |access-date=29 January 2025 |date=November 2018}} Gibbs attended Medgar Evers College and the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music.{{cite web |last1=Oksenhorn |first1=Stewart |title=Another side of 'Dark Side' at Snowmass Mammoth Festival |url=https://www.aspentimes.com/news/another-side-of-dark-side-at-snowmass-mammoth-festival/ |website=Aspen Times |access-date=29 January 2025 |date=9 June 2013}} 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 the 1980s, he played in drummer Ronald Shannon Jackson's Decoding Society, with guitarist Vernon Reid,{{cite web |title=Ronald Shannon Jackson and the Decoding Society - Live at the North Sea Jazz Festival 1983 (The Decoding Society, 2021) ****½ |url=https://www.freejazzblog.org/2021/09/ronald-shannon-jackson-and-decoding.html |website=The Free Jazz Collective |access-date=29 January 2025 |date=9 September 2021}} and with guitarist Sonny Sharrock{{cite journal |title=Melvin Gibbs and Sonny Sharrock |journal=The Wire |date=March 1990 |issue=73 |url=https://www.thewire.co.uk/issues/73 |access-date=29 January 2025}} and saxophonist John Zorn.{{cite web |title=John Zorn: Spillane |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/spillane-mw0000198377 |website=AllMusic.com |access-date=29 January 2025}}{{cite web |title=John Zorn: FilmWorks: 1986-1990 |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/filmworks-1986-1990-mw0000233217 |website=AllMusic.com |access-date=29 January 2025}} With Jackson and guitarist Bill Frisell he was a member of the group Power Tools.{{cite web |last1=Watrous |first1=Peter |title=Reviews/Music; The Band Power Tools Blends Sounds of Jazz |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/09/13/arts/reviews-music-the-band-power-tools-blends-sounds-of-jazz.html |website=The New York Times |access-date=29 January 2025 |date=13 September 1988}} 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.{{cite web |last=Layne |first=Joslyn |year=2012 |title=Melvin Gibbs |url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/p79805 |work=Allmusic |accessdate=January 6, 2012}}

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.{{cite web |title=Melvin Gibbs |url=https://www.grammy.com/artists/melvin-gibbs/9158 |website=Grammy.com |access-date=29 January 2025}} Gibbs has also recorded with hip-hop duo Dead Prez,{{cite web |title=Dead Prez: Let's Get Free |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/lets-get-free-mw0000603923#credits |website=AllMusic.com |access-date=29 January 2025}} Brazilian musicians Caetano Veloso and Marisa Monte,{{cite web |last1=Woodard |first1=Josef |title=Marisa Monte: A Great Noise |url=https://jazztimes.com/archives/marisa-monte-a-great-noise/ |website=JazzTimes |access-date=29 January 2025 |date=1 June 1997}} Latin jazz musician Eddie Palmieri, Nigerian musician Femi Kuti, and guitarist Marc Ribot.{{cite web |last1=Pareles |first1=Jon |title=Pop and Jazz in Review |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/10/15/arts/pop-and-jazz-in-review-335892.html |website=The New York Times |access-date=29 January 2025 |date=15 October 1992}} He has produced albums by turntablist DJ Logic{{cite web |title=DJ Logic: Project Logic |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/project-logic-mw0000252943 |website=AllMusic.com |access-date=29 January 2025}} and guitarist Arto Lindsay, who has referred to Gibbs as his "closest collaborator."{{cite magazine |last1=Williams |first1=K. Leander |title=Arto Lindsay with Melvin Gibbs |url=https://www.newyorker.com/goings-on-about-town/night-life/arto-lindsay-with-melvin-gibbs |magazine=The New Yorker |access-date=29 January 2025 |date=16 September 2022}}

Gibbs formed the Punk-Funk All-Stars with James Blood Ulmer, Defunkt leader Joseph Bowie, Vernon Reid and Ronald Shannon Jackson.{{cite web |last1=Walters |first1=John L. |title=Punk-Funk All Stars Trio Beyond |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2006/jul/18/jazz |website=The Guardian |access-date=29 January 2025 |date=17 July 2006}} In 1998, Gibbs, guitarist Brandon Ross, and drummer J.T. Lewis formed the trio Harriet Tubman.{{cite web |publisher=jazztrail |url=https://jazztrail.net/blog/2018/11/19/harriet-tubman-terror-beauty-album-review |author=Freitas, Filipe |title=Harriet Tubman: The Terror End of Beauty |date=November 19, 2018 |accessdate=November 21, 2018}}

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;{{cite web| url=https://events.tulane.edu/content/geechee-seminoles-0| title=The Geechee Seminoles| date=2019| publisher=Tulane University| accessdate=June 14, 2019}} Zig Zag Power Trio with guitarist Vernon Reid and drummer Will Calhoun; God Particle with cosmologist/saxophonist Stephon Alexander, David Pleasant, and other musicians;{{cite web| url=https://bassmagazine.com/artists/melvin-gibbs-stephon-alexander-premiere-at-the-vision-festival-2019| date=May 14, 2019| title=Melvin Gibbs & Stephon Alexander Premiere at The Vision Festival 2019| work=Bass Magazine| accessdate=June 14, 2019}} and Melvin Gibbs Magnum.{{cite web| title=Melvin Gibbs Isn't Looking Back| date=April 2, 2019| author=Cohan, Brad| work=Jazz Times| url=https://jazztimes.com/features/profiles/melvin-gibbs-isnt-looking-back/| accessdate=May 3, 2019}}

Discography

= As leader =

class="wikitable sortable"
Year !Artist !Title !Label
2009 \|Melvin Gibbs' Elevated Entity \|Ancients Speak{{cite web \|last1=Greenlee \|first1=Steve \|title=Melvin Gibbs' Elevated Entity: Ancients Speak \|url=https://jazztimes.com/reviews/albums/melvin-gibbs-elevated-entity-ancients-speak/ \|website=JazzTimes \|access-date=29 January 2025 \|archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20200929052758/https://jazztimes.com/reviews/albums/melvin-gibbs-elevated-entity-ancients-speak/ \|archive-date=29 September 2020 \|date=1 April 2009}} \|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{{cite news\| work=New York Times\| author=Colter Walls, Seth\| title=5 Classical Music Albums You Can Listen to Right Now\| date=January 26, 2023 \| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/26/arts/music/classical-music-recordings-january.html\| accessdate=2023-01-27}} \|Editions Mego

class="wikitable sortable"

Year

!Artist

!Title

!Label

2009

|Melvin Gibbs' Elevated Entity

|Ancients Speak{{cite web |last1=Greenlee |first1=Steve |title=Melvin Gibbs' Elevated Entity: Ancients Speak |url=https://jazztimes.com/reviews/albums/melvin-gibbs-elevated-entity-ancients-speak/ |website=JazzTimes |access-date=29 January 2025 |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20200929052758/https://jazztimes.com/reviews/albums/melvin-gibbs-elevated-entity-ancients-speak/ |archive-date=29 September 2020 |date=1 April 2009}}

|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{{cite news| work=New York Times| author=Colter Walls, Seth| title=5 Classical Music Albums You Can Listen to Right Now| date=January 26, 2023 | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/26/arts/music/classical-music-recordings-january.html| accessdate=2023-01-27}}

|Editions Mego

=As co-leader=

class="wikitable sortable"
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{{cite web \|publisher=Maurice Montoya Music Agency \|url=http://www.mmmusicagency.com/harriet-tubman-the-band.html \|title=Harriet Tubman: The Band \|date=2017 \|accessdate=November 21, 2018}} \|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, {{interlanguage link\|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{{cite web \|work=The Wire \|url=https://reader.exacteditions.com/issues/66702/page/1 \|title=Harriet Tubman: The Terror End of Beauty \|date=November 2018 \|accessdate=November 21, 2018}} \|Sunnyside \|Gibbs, Ross, Lewis
2021 \|Body Meπa \|The Work Is Slow{{cite web \|last1=Kim \|first1=Joshua Minsoo \|title=Body Meπa: The Work Is Slow \|url=https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/body-mepa-the-work-is-slow/ \|website=Pitchfork \|access-date=29 January 2025 \|date=4 June 2021}} \|Hausu Mountain \|Gibbs, Greg Fox, Sasha Frere-Jones, Grey Mcmurray
2024 \|Body Meπa \|Prayer in Dub \|Hausu Mountain \|Gibbs, Fox, Frere-Jones, Mcmurray

class="wikitable sortable"

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{{cite web |publisher=Maurice Montoya Music Agency |url=http://www.mmmusicagency.com/harriet-tubman-the-band.html |title=Harriet Tubman: The Band |date=2017 |accessdate=November 21, 2018}}

|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, {{interlanguage link|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{{cite web |work=The Wire |url=https://reader.exacteditions.com/issues/66702/page/1 |title=Harriet Tubman: The Terror End of Beauty |date=November 2018 |accessdate=November 21, 2018}}

|Sunnyside

|Gibbs, Ross, Lewis

2021

|Body Meπa

|The Work Is Slow{{cite web |last1=Kim |first1=Joshua Minsoo |title=Body Meπa: The Work Is Slow |url=https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/body-mepa-the-work-is-slow/ |website=Pitchfork |access-date=29 January 2025 |date=4 June 2021}}

|Hausu Mountain

|Gibbs, Greg Fox, Sasha Frere-Jones, Grey Mcmurray

2024

|Body Meπa

|Prayer in Dub

|Hausu Mountain

|Gibbs, Fox, Frere-Jones, Mcmurray

= Singles =

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 =

With Defunkt

1980 Defunkt
1994 Live & Reunified
2005 Defunkt/Thermonuclear Sweat

With Rollins Band

1994 Weight
1997 Come In and Burn

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

1980 Eye on You
1981 Nasty
1982 Mandance (Antilles)
1983 Street Priest
1983 Barbeque Dog (Antilles)
1985 Decode Yourself (Island)
1990 Taboo
1999 Live in Montreux
2000 Earned Dreams
2000 Live at Greenwich House

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){{cite web |title=Melvin Gibbs Credits |url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/melvin-gibbs-mn0000415158/credits |website=AllMusic |accessdate=December 12, 2018 |language=en-us}}

With Sonny Sharrock

1987 Seize the Rainbow (Enemy)
1989 Live in New York (Enemy)
1996 Into Another Light

With Moreno Veloso

2001 Music Typewriter
2014 Coisa Boa

With Vitamin C

1999 Vitamin C
2000 More

With John Zorn

1986 The Big Gundown (Elektra)
1988 Spillane

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 The Rites with Burnt Sugar (Greg Tate), Butch Morris, Pete Cosey (Avant Groidd Musica)
2003 Deeper Than Oceans, Kazufumi Miyazawa
2004 Ten, Ellery Eskelin
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, {{interlanguage link|Eric Mingus|de}}, Queen Esther, Glenn Phillips, Lance Carter (Yellowbird)
2010 The Art of Bellydance, Bellydance Superstars
2020 Marching Music, Dave Douglas (Greenleaf)