Jazz Articles

Melvin Gibbs' Elevated Entity: Ancients Speak

by Chris M. Slawecki
June 13, 2009

Bassist/composer/producer Melvin Gibbs is best-known among jazz fans for his run with the Ronald Shannon Jackson Decoding Society and among rock fans as bassist for what most devotees consider the best version of The Henry Rollins Band. Now leading his own band, Gibbs explores “the Black Atlantic continuum" that runs from Harlem and NYC in North America through the American south, down through the Caribbean and into Brazil, on Ancients Speak. “It's the randomness of the explosive situation, how this ...

Burnt Sugar the Arkestra Chamber: Making Love to the Dark Ages

by Chris M. Slawecki
June 12, 2009

Composer Greg Tate leads Burnt Sugar the Arkestra Chamber through melodic and harmonic structures, using a unique repertoire of physical gestures and expressions known not as conducting but as conduction. Tate christened this ensemble to honor the communal exploratory nature of Sun Ra's Arkestra and the Wu Tang Clan's 36 Chambers: “I wanted to conflate those two mystical generations. Both are in the tradition of mystic composers. Their sound comes from these ideas about science and art and ...

Burnt Sugar the Arkestra Chamber: Making Love to the Dark Ages

by Glenn Astarita
May 12, 2009

This band partly signifies the New York City downtown aura that resides as a major genre-slashing musical force, spanning several decades. Led by bandleader Greg Tate who lifts a few pages from conductor/composer Butch Morris' conduction modus operandi, where hand gestures, eye contact and motion serve as the guiding light.With structured song forms and hefty doses of improvisation amid translucent harmonic evolvements, the band captures some of bandleader Sun Ra's off-kilter large digressions and spacey breakouts. And there's ...

Melvin Gibbs Elevated Entity: Ancients Speak

by Glenn Astarita
April 15, 2009

Bassist Melvin Gibbs is a multi-talented and pivotal figure on New York City's downtown scene. On Ancients Speak, co-produced by renegade guitarist and experimental composer Arto Lindsay, Gibbs mixes a potpourri of African vocals, hip hop, Latin grooves, rap, and tribal chants, along with divergent stylizations that transform into a distinct entity.

Ancients Speak helps launch a new label, LiveWired Music, with a curious polytonal gumbo--yet Gibbs remains a merchant of good cheer throughout, providing a fluid undercurrent ...