Ancients Speak
LWM-1001

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melvin_gibbs@verizon.net

Lauded by Time Out New York as “the best bassist in the world,” Melvin Gibbs is a respected veteran of the New York music scene, having contributed his singular talents as musician, songwriter and producer to a wide range of projects with major artists. From Ronald Shannon Jackson’s Decoding Society to Bill Frisell’s Power Tools to the Henry Rollins Band, Gibbs has appeared on close to 200 albums to date and has won numerous industry accolades, including a Grammy nomination (for the 1994 Rollins Band single “Liar”) and a year-end Top 10 nod from Entertainment Weekly (for the 1991 eponymous debut of his band Eye and I). As reviewed in the New York Times, his 2009 LiveWired Music release Ancients Speak, with Elevated Entity, “...conveys a thrilling sense of cultural collision.”

Born in Brooklyn and a student of former John Coltrane bassist Reggie Workman, Gibbs first rose to prominence as a member of the groups Defunkt and the Decoding Society. Along with neighborhood pal and guitarist Vernon Reid, he helped to make both acts a central attraction on New York City's early ’80s downtown club scene. Gibbs was also the bassist for the Contortions/James White and the Blacks/Flaming Demonics collective, and appears in the video of an early Contortions show that features Debbie Harry and Chris Stein of Blondie. Around this time he also connected musically with Alphonia Tims, protégé of Ornette Coleman and the late Gil Evans—a connection that led to a tutelage with both jazz greats. He also worked with such artists as seminal guitarist Sonny Sharrock, saxophonist/composer John Zorn and avant-pop group the Ambitious Lovers.

As a bassist, composer and producer, Gibbs has continuously explored new musical directions with tireless abandon. Over the years, he has performed with wide variety of artists, including David Byrne, Arto Lindsay, Brazilian stars Caetano Veloso and Marisa Monte, and Nigerian star Femi Kuti, as well as such established and legendary jazz artists as the World Saxophone Quartet, John Scofield, Joshua Redman, Eddie Palmieri, Oliver Lake, Lester Bowie and David Murray, among many others.

Elevated Entity is the logical progression of the Liberation Theology project, which Gibbs formed in 2000. Melding hip-hop, jazz and Afro-Cuban religious music into a new form of “spiritual jazz,” the original group featured such artists as John Medeski, Mark Batson, Graham Haynes, DJ Logic, Tarreon Gully, Joe Lavano and Craig Taborn alongside a full Afro-Cuban religious singing/percussion group, as well as Emilio Barretto, Pedrito Martinez and Amayo, lead singer of the Brooklyn-based Afrobeat group Antibalas. Today, Elevated Entity draws from Afro-Brazilian vocals and percussion, as well as the vocal stylings of Amayo and underground MCs from NYC and Brazil. Other contributors include guitarists Pete Cosey (ex-Miles Davis) and Blackbyrd McKnight (ex-P-Funk), along with Bernie Worrell, Vernon Reid, John Medeski, Craig Taborn, J.T. Lewis and many more.