Jazz Articles about Terry Gibbs

Terry Gibbs: Feelin' Good: Live In The Studio

by Stephen Latessa
July 15, 2005

After a while you learn there are very few sure things in this world. The team with the highest payroll and all-stars manning every position does not win the World Series every year. In fact, sometimes teams comprised of players who can be charitably described as nobodies even sweep them. Like they say, that's why you play the game.

On paper, Terry Gibbs' Feelin' Good looks like a can't miss proposition. Featuring an assortment of great players, including ...

A Fireside Chat with Terry Gibbs

by AAJ Staff
September 20, 2004

There is the old adage, “Practice makes perfect." And having been road tested for 68 years, Terry Gibbs is in effect perfect. Jazz vocabulary is contingent on experience, and Gibbs has plenty of stories to tell. He narrates an account of the “golden age of jazz" with 52nd & Broadway: Songs of the Bebop Era and it is a fascinating tale indeed.

All About Jazz: Let's start from the beginning.

Terry Gibbs: I come from a musical family. My brother ...

Terry Gibbs: 52nd & Broadway: Songs Of The Bebop Era

by AAJ Staff
September 14, 2004

Vibraphonist Terry Gibbs is a second-generation bebopper. Too young to have participated in the ground-breaking experiments at Minton's and Monroe's, he first came to prominence with Woody Herman at the end of the 1940's. But bebop is in his blood; it's his life. 52nd & Broadway, with its vintage bop tunes and their treatment by a string orchestra, celebrates that life.

Gibbs is 80, and he defies his age. His playing here is fluid and lithe, pulsating with his trademark ...

Terry Gibbs: 52nd & Broadway: Songs of the Bebop Era

by Michael P. Gladstone
September 4, 2004

Yes, it is 2004, but vibraphonist Terry Gibbs doesn't know that, and it is difficult to discern any difference between his playing today and forty years ago. When you're eighty years of age and working with two mallets, the motor neurons have a tendency to slow you down, but that certainly is not apparent here. On his 65th album, Gibbs is full of the lively spirit that has been a trademark; and if you recall him trading vibes choruses with ...

Terry Gibbs: 52nd And Broadway: Songs Of The Bebop Era

by Mark Sabbatini
August 14, 2004

It's albums like this that make certain people rant about the “good ol' days."

Vibraphonist Terry Gibbs incredibly still sounds lively and fresh on his 65th album, 52nd And Broadway: Songs Of The Bebop Era , frequently giving new tempos and arrangements to standards from the period. But this isn't modern music with a bebop accent, it's the real deal with a healthy dose of modern spice.

I put this in the CD player without looking ...

Terry Gibbs: From Me To You: A Tribute To Lionel Hampton

by Joel Roberts
July 1, 2004

Tribute albums, by and large, have become a cheap marketing ploy for unimaginative record companies and artists looking to cash in on the legacy of more popular performers and to appeal to what they assume is a public uninterested in hearing challenging or original material. Just look at the way-too-many releases “honoring,” say, Miles or Duke. Of course they’re worthy of tribute, but not necessarily an entire album’s worth by every artist on the block, most with nothing special to ...

Terry Gibbs: From Me To You: A Tribute To Lionel Hampton

by Lisa Dornell
May 14, 2003

“No one wants to see a short Jew singing love songs—unless you’re Al Jolson. But rhythm songs? So long as you have a good time it’s OK.” —Terry Gibbs

Trust me, it’s more than just OK and you will have a good time, as vibraphone master Terry Gibbs sings, swings, and generally carouses his way through this tribute to Lionel Hampton. Featuring many of the classic songs usually associated with the late great King of the Vibes, including “Midnight Sun,” ...