Melvin Gibbs

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Melvin Gibbs is an American bass guitarist, composer and producer who has appeared on close to 200 albums in diverse genres of music.

A native of Brooklyn, New York, Gibbs attended Medgar Evers College and Brooklyn Conservatory of Music in Brooklyn. He first came to public notice as a member of the group Defunkt which was a mainstay of the early '80's downtown N.Y. scene. Throughout most of the '80s, he played in drummer Ronald Shannon Jackson's Decoding Society alongside guitarist Vernon Reid, as well as playing with guitarist Sonny Sharrock and saxophonist John Zorn. He was a member of the group Power Tools along with guitarist Bill Frisell and drummer Ronald Shannon Jackson. He co-led the band Eye and I and he is an original member of the Black Rock Coaltion.

He was a memeber of the avant-metal Rollins Band from 1993 to about 1998, and again in 2006 when the group briefly reformed. Gibbs has also recorded with hip-hop artists dead prez, Brazilian artists Caetano Veloso and Marisa Monte, latin jazz artist Eddie Palmieri, Nigerian artist Femi Kuti guitarist Marc Ribot, and has produced guitarist/singer Arto Lindsay, and turntablist DJ Logic.

He formed the Punk-Funk All-Stars with guitartist/singer James Blood Ulmer, Defunkt leader Joesph Bowie, Vernon Reid and Ronald Shannon Jackson. He co-leads the band Harriet Tubman with guitarist Brandon Ross and drummer JT Lewis. His current projects "Elevated Entity" and "Melvin Runs the Hoodoo Down" feauture guitarist Pete Cosey and keyboardists John Medeski, James Hurt and Mark Batson.