Melvin Gibbs

Melvin Gibbs
Gibbs performing in 2014
Background information
Origin	Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
Genres	Jazz fusion, alternative metal, funk rock, ambient, hip hop
Occupation(s)	Musician, composer, producer
Instrument	Bass guitar
Years active	1980–present
Labels	Livewired Music, Rage
Member of	Harriet Tubman
Formerly of	Rollins Band, Defunkt, Eye and I, Black Rock Coalition
Website	melvin-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 Harriet Tubman,^[6] with whom he was included in the New York Times' best performances of 2017,^[7] and Body Meπa, recognized in Bandcamp Daily's best experimental music of 2024.^[8]

A native of Brooklyn, New York,^[9] Gibbs attended Medgar Evers College^[1] and the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music.^[10] 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.^[1] Throughout the 1980s, he played in drummer Ronald Shannon Jackson's Decoding Society, with guitarist Vernon Reid,^[11] and with guitarist Sonny Sharrock^[12] and saxophonist John Zorn.^[13][14] With Jackson and guitarist Bill Frisell he was a member of the group Power Tools.^[15] 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.^[9]

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.^[16]

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.^[17] Gibbs has also recorded with hip-hop duo Dead Prez,^[18] Brazilian musicians Caetano Veloso^[2] and Marisa Monte,^[19] Latin jazz musician Eddie Palmieri,^[2] Nigerian musician Femi Kuti,^[1] and guitarist Marc Ribot.^[20] He has produced albums by turntablist DJ Logic^[21] and guitarist Arto Lindsay, who has referred to Gibbs as his "closest collaborator."^[22]

Gibbs formed the Punk-Funk All-Stars with James Blood Ulmer, Defunkt leader Joseph Bowie, Vernon Reid and Ronald Shannon Jackson.^[23] In 1998, Gibbs, guitarist Brandon Ross, and drummer J.T. Lewis formed the trio Harriet Tubman.^[24]

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;^[25] 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;^[26] and Melvin Gibbs Magnum.^[27]

• 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)

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)^[33]

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, Eric Mingus [de], Queen Esther, Glenn Phillips, Lance Carter (Yellowbird)
• 2010 The Art of Bellydance, Bellydance Superstars^[33]
• 2020 Marching Music, Dave Douglas (Greenleaf)

• Official website
• Melvin Gibbs at AllMusic