Michael Clement Irving Gibbs (born 25 September 1937) is a Rhodesian-born English jazz composer, conductor, arranger and producer as well as a trombonist and keyboardist. He is known for collaborations with vibraphonist

Gary Burton Gary Burton (born January 23, 1943) is an American jazz Vibraphone, vibraphonist, composer, and educator. Burton developed a pianistic style of four-mallet technique as an alternative to the prevailing two-mallet technique. This approach caused ...

, his student, and for his use of rock elements in orchestral jazz.Duncan Heining.
And Did Those Feet … Six British Jazz Composers
' (2023)

Career

Gibbs was born in

Harare Harare ( ), formerly Salisbury, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Zimbabwe. The city proper has an area of , a population of 1,849,600 as of the 2022 Zimbabwe census, 2022 census and an estimated 2,487,209 people in its metrop ...

, Southern Rhodesia (now

Zimbabwe file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...

). He moved to

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

, United States in 1959, in order to study at the

Berklee College of Music Berklee College of Music () is a Private university, private music college in Boston, Boston, Massachusetts. It is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known for the study of jazz and modern Music of the United ...

and Boston Conservatory. In 1961, Gibbs took scholarships at the Lennox School of Jazz and later at Tanglewood Music Center. Initially returning to Rhodesia, Gibbs later settled in England. After recording with

Graham Collier James Graham Collier (21 February 1937 – 9 September 2011) was an English jazz Double bass, bassist, bandleader and composer. Life and career Born in Tynemouth, Northumberland, England, on leaving school Collier joined the British Army as ...

, John Dankworth,

Kenny Wheeler Kenneth Vincent John Wheeler, Order of Canada, OC (14 January 1930 – 18 September 2014) was a Canadian composer and trumpet and flugelhorn player, based in the U.K. from the 1950s onwards. Most of his performances were rooted in jazz, but he w ...

and Mike Westbrook in the late 1960s, Gibbs released his first album, ''Michael Gibbs'', in 1970. From 1970 to 1974, Gibbs was musical director for the BBC TV comedy programme ''

The Goodies The Goodies were a trio of British comedians: Tim Brooke-Taylor (17 July 1940 – 12 April 2020), Graeme Garden (b. 18 February 1943) and Bill Oddie (b. 7 July 1941). The trio created, wrote for and performed in their The Goodies (TV series), ...

''. When he left the UK to take up a teaching position at Berklee, the musical director post was filled by Dave MacRae, a member of the band Gibbs had led in recording

funk rock Funk rock is a fusion genre that mixes elements of funk and Rock music, rock. James Brown and others declared that Little Richard and his mid-1950s road band, The Upsetters (American band), the Upsetters, were the first to put the funk in the ...

music for the show. After resigning from that teaching position in 1983, Gibbs became a freelance arranger and producer, working variously with

Jaco Pastorius John Francis Anthony Pastorius III, also known as Jaco Pastorius (; December 1, 1951 – September 21, 1987), was an American jazz bassist, composer, and producer. Widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential bassists of all time, ...

, Michael Mantler,

Joni Mitchell Roberta Joan Mitchell (née Anderson; born November 7, 1943) is a Canadian and American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and painter. As one of the most influential singer-songwriters to emerge from the 1960s folk music circuit, Mitch ...

Pat Metheny Patrick Bruce Metheny ( ; born August 12, 1954) is an American jazz guitarist and composer. He was the leader of the Pat Metheny Group (1977–2010) and continues to work in various small-combo, duet, and solo settings, as well as other side pr ...

, John McLaughlin,

Whitney Houston Whitney Elizabeth Houston (August 9, 1963 – February 11, 2012) was an American singer, actress, film producer, model, and philanthropist. Commonly referred to as "Honorific nicknames in popular music, the Voice", she is List of awards and no ...

, Vladislav Sendecki,

Peter Gabriel Peter Brian Gabriel (born 13 February 1950) is an English singer, songwriter, musician, and human rights activist. He came to prominence as the original frontman of the rock band Genesis. He left the band in 1975 and launched a solo career wit ...

and Sister Sledge. In 1991, he toured and recorded with John Scofield. During the years 1999–2000, he worked at the Sibelius Academy Jazz Department in

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

where he had a professorship (part-time) in Jazz Composition and Arranging. On 2 October 2017, Gibbs was presented with a BASCA Gold Badge Award, in recognition of his unique contribution to music. In 2017, Gibbs was awarded an honorary doctorate of music from his alma mater, Berklee College of Music.

Discography

As leader

* ''Michael Gibbs'' (Deram, 1970) * ''Tanglewood 63'' (Deram, 1971) * ''Just Ahead'' (Polydor, 1972) * ''In the Public Interest'' with Gary Burton (Polydor, 1974) * '' Seven Songs for Quartet and Chamber Orchestra'' (1974, ECM) * ''Directs the Only Chrome Waterfall Orchestra'' (Bronze, 1975) * ''Will Power'' with Neil Ardley, Ian Carr, Stan Tracey (Argo, 1975) * ''Big Music'' with Bob Moses, Chris Hunter, Lew Soloff, Dave Bargeron, etc. (Venture, 1988, re-issued with additional track, ACT, 1996) * ''By The Way'' (Ah UM, 1993) * ''Europeana: Jazzphony No. 1'' with Joachim Kuhn (ACT, 1995) * ''Nonsequence'' (Provocateur, 2001) * ''Here's a Song for You'' with the NDR Big Band, Norma Winstone (Fuzzy Moon, 2011) * ''Back in the Days'' with the NDR Big Band (Cuneiform, 2012) * '' Mike Gibbs + 12 play Gil Evans'' (

Whirlwind A whirlwind is a phenomenon in which a vortex of wind (a vertically oriented rotating column of air) forms due to instabilities and turbulence created by heating and flow ( current) gradients. Whirlwinds can vary in size and last from a cou ...

, 2013) * ''In My View'' with the NDR Big Band (Cuneiform, 2015) * ''Play a Bill Frisell Set List'' with the NDR Big Band (Cuneiform, 2015) * ''Festival 69'' with Gary Burton (Turtle, 2018) * ''MIKE GIBBS BAND Symphony Hall Birmingham 1991 - feat. John Scofield Trio, (DuskFire Co.Uk, 2018)

Scores

* '' Secrets'' (1971) * '' Madame Sin'' (1972) * '' Intimate Reflections'' (1975) * ''Housekeeping'' (Varèse Sarabande, 1987) * '' Close My Eyes'' (1991) * ''Iron & Silk'' (The Fine Line, 1991) * ''

Century A century is a period of 100 years or 10 decades. Centuries are numbered ordinally in English and many other languages. The word ''century'' comes from the Latin ''centum'', meaning ''one hundred''. ''Century'' is sometimes abbreviated as c. ...

'' (1993) * '' Hard Boiled'' (The Fine Line, 1993) * ''Being Human'' (Varèse Sarabande, 1994) * ''Century/Close My Eyes'' (The Fine Line, 1994)

As sideman

, ''

Deep Dark Blue Centre ''Deep Dark Blue Centre'' is the debut album by composer and bassist Graham Collier recorded in 1967 and originally released on the British Deram label.Kenny Wheeler Kenneth Vincent John Wheeler, Order of Canada, OC (14 January 1930 – 18 September 2014) was a Canadian composer and trumpet and flugelhorn player, based in the U.K. from the 1950s onwards. Most of his performances were rooted in jazz, but he w ...

, '' Windmill Tilter'' (Fontana, 1969) *

Barry Guy Barry John Guy (born 22 April 1947, in London, England) is an English composer and double bass player. His range of interests encompasses early music, contemporary composition, jazz and improvisation, and he has worked with a wide variety of or ...

/The London Jazz Composers' Orchestra, ''

Ode An ode (from ) is a type of lyric poetry, with its origins in Ancient Greece. Odes are elaborately structured poems praising or glorifying an event or individual, describing nature intellectually as well as emotionally. A classic ode is structu ...

'' (Incus, 1972) * Nguyen Le, NDR Big Band, ''Celebrating the Dark Side of the Moon'' (ACT, 2014) *

Eberhard Weber Eberhard Weber is a German double bassist and composer. As a bass player, he is known for his highly distinctive tone and phrasing. Weber's compositions blend chamber jazz, European classical music, minimalism and ambient music, and are regarded ...

, Pat Metheny, et al., '' Hommage à Eberhard Weber'' (ECM, 2015)

References

External links

DiscographyGoodies Podcast - audio interview with Mike Gibbs
recorded 6 March 2010.
Interview
for Cheltenham Jazz Festival, 9 April 2013. *

British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors The Ivors Academy (formerly known as British Academy of Songwriters Composers and Authors – BASCA) is one of the largest professional associations for music writers in Europe. The academy works to protect and support and also campaigns the int ...

Review of ''Big Music'' on allmusic.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gibbs, Michael 1937 births ACT Music artists Living people Rhodesian people of British descent White Rhodesian people Zimbabwean emigrants to the United Kingdom Rhodesian composers Jazz composers Mute Records artists Polydor Records artists Virgin Records artists Musicians from Harare Blast First artists Bronze Records artists New Jazz Orchestra members Varèse Sarabande Records artists Cuneiform Records artists Argo Records artists Deram Records artists