, France Melvin Gibbs was born on May 25, 1958. A native of
Brooklyn, New York, Gibbs attended
Medgar Evers College He first came to public notice as a member of the group
Defunkt, which was a mainstay of the early 1980s downtown New York scene. and with guitarist
Sonny Sharrock and saxophonist
John Zorn. With Jackson and guitarist
Bill Frisell, Gibbs 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. 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 Gibbs has also recorded with
hip-hop duo
Dead Prez, Brazilian musicians
Caetano Veloso Latin jazz musician
Eddie Palmieri, Gibbs has produced albums by turntablist
DJ Logic and guitarist
Arto Lindsay, who has referred to Gibbs as his "closest collaborator". 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.
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; Zig Zag Power Trio with guitarist
Vernon Reid and drummer
Will Calhoun; and Melvin Gibbs Magnum. == Discography ==