Melvin Gibbs

Bassist Melvin Gibbs leads a chameleonic, multifaceted career, working with avant-garde jazz improvisers, funk rock bands, rappers, and much more, additionally making experimental music on his own. During the 1980s, he was in Defunkt and Power Tools (with Bill Frisell), worked with artists like Sonny Sharrock and Roland Shannon Jackson, and was an original member of the Black Rock Coalition. He joined Rollins Band during the '90s, earning a Grammy nomination with the group, and collaborated with musicians including Arto Lindsay, Caetano Veloso, and Marisa Monte. He co-founded the trio Harriet Tubman in 1998, and formed Melvin Gibbs' Elevated Identity and SociaLybrium a decade later. He became part of post-rock quartet Body Meπa in 2020, and issued more experimental solo work during the decade, including 2025's Amasia: Anamibia Sessions 2.