Melvin Gibbs is an American bass guitarist, composer, and
producer who has appeared on close to 200 albums in diverse genres of music.
Melvin has been called "the best bassist in the world" by Time
Out New York magazine.
A native of Brooklyn, New York, Gibbs attended Medgar
Evers College and
Brooklyn Conservatory of Music in Brooklyn. He first came to public notice
as a member of the group Defunkt which was a mainstay of the early '80's downtown
N.Y. scene. Throughout most of the '80s, he played in drummer Ronald
Shannon Jackson's Decoding Society alongside guitarist Vernon
Reid, as well as playing
with guitarist Sonny Sharrock and saxophonist John
Zorn. He was a member of
the group Power Tools along with guitarist Bill
Frisell and drummer Ronald
Shannon Jackson. He co-led the band Eye and
I and he is an original member
of the Black Rock Coalition.
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 was nominated for a Grammy in 1995. Gibbs has also recorded with hip-hop
artists dead prez, Brazilian artists Caetano Veloso and Marisa
Monte, latin
jazz artist Eddie Palmieri, Nigerian artist Femi
Kuti, and guitarist Marc
Ribot. He has also produced albums by guitarist/singer Arto
Lindsay and turntablist DJ Logic.
He formed the Punk-Funk All-Stars with guitartist/singer James
Blood Ulmer,
Defunkt leader JosephBowie, Vernon
Reid and Ronald Shannon Jackson. He co-leads the band Harriet
Tubman with guitarist Brandon Ross and drummer JT
Lewis. His other current projects include "Melvin
Runs the Hoodoo Down" featuring
guitarist Pete Cosey and keyboardist John
Medeski, the JFM Trio featuring
guitarist Jeff Parker and percussionist Francisco
Mora, and the Geechee
Seminoles, a duo featuring Melvin and drummer/hand-body percussionist/dancer
David Pleasant. "Ancients Speak " the premiere album by Melvin Gibbs' Elevated
Entity, was released on March 17 2009 by Livewired
Music.
