Jazz Articles about Melvin Gibbs

About Melvin Gibbs

Album Review

Wadada Leo Smith: Constellations and Hemispheres

Read "Constellations and Hemispheres" reviewed by Mike Jurkovic

by Mike Jurkovic
September 18, 2026

The listener is easily startled by Wadada Leo Smith. The man has an aura about him that emanates from some other place, some other time, when the rule of law was set in stone. A time not too long ago when collective aspiration held us all enthralled. And the man who carried that stone is none other than the trumpeter himself. Smith's presence also has a mythical essence that, in and of itself, is hardly breaking news. But ...

Album Review

Tomos Williams: Cwmwl Tystion III / Empathy

Read "Cwmwl Tystion III / Empathy" reviewed by Ian Patterson

by Ian Patterson
July 19, 2026

Mighty oaks from little acorns grow. So it has proven for Welsh trumpeter-composer Tomos Williams, whose intended one-off album Cwmwl Tystion / Witness (Tŷ Cerdd, 2019) unwittingly became the first installment of a trilogy charting Welsh identity, history and internationalism. Realizing there were still important stories to tell, Cwmwl Tystion II: Riot! (Tŷ Cerdd, 2021) picked up where Witness left off. On this second volume Williams addressed blood-soaked historical events in Wales--revolts, pogroms and race riots--across a brilliant one-hour suite. ...

Album Review

Harriet Tubman: Electrical Field of Love

Read "Electrical Field of Love" reviewed by Stefano Merighi

by Stefano Merighi
July 1, 2026

La musica come colore acceso, come desiderio esplorativo per lasciarsi alle spalle impedimenti, regole fisse, clichè. Harriet Tubman, fin dal nome, è una sfida allo status quo, il ricordo di una militante abolizionista del XIX secolo passata alla storia come una tra le figure più influenti della cultura politica afroamericana. Harriet Tubman è un trio attivo dal 1998, che riunisce le personalità poliedriche di Brandon Ross--chitarre--, Melvin Gibbs--basso elettrico--e J.T. Lewis, batteria e percussioni. Nomi che ci riportano ...

Album Review

Wadada Leo Smith: Fire Illuminations

Read "Fire Illuminations" reviewed by Mike Jurkovic

by Mike Jurkovic
March 31, 2023

Eighty-one year old trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith comes out flaring like Bitches Brew era Miles Davis, as Fire Illuminations jumps the funk rock from the break of the muscular conflagration “Ntozake." And the grunge jazz clips along as guitarists Nels Cline, Brandon Ross, and Lamar Smith vie, bite, sting, and quarrel over an insistent bass drum power-groove courtesy of bassists Bill Laswell and Melvin Gibbs, percussionist Mauro Refosco, drummer Pheeroan aKlaff, and the deep space electronics of Hardedge.

Album Review

Wadada Leo Smith: Fire Illuminations

Read "Fire Illuminations" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
March 12, 2023

Trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith fronts lots of different bands and puts out lots of albums. After a busy period when he released five boxed sets, totaling 27 CDs, here he debuts his new all-star ensemble Orange Wave Electric, with the download-only offering, Fire Illuminations. As the band name implies, the sound is electric, featuring three electric guitarists, two electric bassists and an electronicist, joining the leader's horn, percussionist Mauro Refosco and drummer Pheeroan aKLaff. For comparison's sake--and using ...

Album Review

Dave Douglas: Marching Music

Read "Marching Music" reviewed by Angelo Leonardi

by Angelo Leonardi
March 4, 2021

Gli intenti che stanno alla base del nuovo disco di Dave Douglas e la data di registrazione sono significativi. Come scrive il trombettista nelle note di copertina, il progetto è stato concepito come musica da ascoltare in cuffia durante le manifestazioni di protesta a favore del clima, dei diritti civili e di tutte le altre azioni a sostegno della giustizia sociale. Si potrebbe pensare che sia stato registrato nella primavera dello scorso anno, a seguito delle rivolte ...

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Album Review

Melvin Gibbs' Elevated Entity: Ancients Speak

Read "Ancients Speak" reviewed by Chris M. Slawecki

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 ...