{"id":7644,"date":"2026-06-17T21:30:44","date_gmt":"2026-06-17T21:30:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hausumountain.com\/?page_id=7644"},"modified":"2026-06-19T15:54:24","modified_gmt":"2026-06-19T15:54:24","slug":"melvin-gibbs-lift-every-voice-and-sing","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/hausumountain.com\/?page_id=7644","title":{"rendered":"Melvin Gibbs &#8211; Lift Every Voice and Sing"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/hausumountain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Melvin-Gibbs-Lift-Every-Voice-and-Sing-Album-Artwork.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-7645\" src=\"https:\/\/hausumountain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Melvin-Gibbs-Lift-Every-Voice-and-Sing-Album-Artwork.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1500\" height=\"1500\" srcset=\"https:\/\/hausumountain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Melvin-Gibbs-Lift-Every-Voice-and-Sing-Album-Artwork.jpg 1500w, https:\/\/hausumountain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Melvin-Gibbs-Lift-Every-Voice-and-Sing-Album-Artwork-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/hausumountain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Melvin-Gibbs-Lift-Every-Voice-and-Sing-Album-Artwork-1024x1024.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/hausumountain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Melvin-Gibbs-Lift-Every-Voice-and-Sing-Album-Artwork-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/hausumountain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Melvin-Gibbs-Lift-Every-Voice-and-Sing-Album-Artwork-768x768.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ffffff;\">&#8211;<\/span><\/p>\n<h1 style=\"text-align: center;\">Digital single to be released on June 19th, 2026.<br \/>\nTo purchase, head to our <a href=\"http:\/\/hausumountain.bandcamp.com\/\">Bandcamp page<\/a>.<\/h1>\n<h1 style=\"text-align: center;\"><\/h1>\n<div class=\"page\" title=\"Page 1\">\n<div class=\"section\">\n<div class=\"layoutArea\">\n<div class=\"column\">\n<h1><\/h1>\n<p><iframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 120px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=976666633\/size=large\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/tracklist=false\/artwork=small\/transparent=true\/\" seamless><a href=\"https:\/\/music.melvin-gibbs.com\/album\/lift-every-voice-and-sing\">Lift Every Voice and Sing by Melvin Gibbs<\/a><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h1><\/h1>\n<h5>Grammy-nominated composer \/ producer \/ bassist <strong>Melvin Gibbs<\/strong> has a beyond-diverse background in jazz, rock, punk, and freeform experimentalism \u2014 anchored by mentors including <strong>Ornette Coleman<\/strong> and <strong>Gil Evans<\/strong>, encompassing work with <strong>Arto Lindsay<\/strong>, <strong>dead prez<\/strong>, and <strong>Sonny Sharrock<\/strong>, stints in <strong>Defunkt<\/strong> and <strong>the Rollins Band<\/strong>, and collaborations in ensembles including <strong>Power Tools<\/strong> alongside <strong>Bill Frisell<\/strong> and <strong>Ronald Shannon Jackson<\/strong> and the cooperative <strong>Harriet Tubman<\/strong>. Within the last few years, Gibbs released solo works on Editions Mego and Northern Spy, and performed in collaboration with<strong> Marshall Allen<\/strong>, <strong>Elliot Sharp<\/strong>, <strong>Don McKenzie<\/strong> (as <strong>Bootstrappers<\/strong>), <strong>Wadada Leo Smith<\/strong>, and with theoretical physicist <strong>Dr. Stephon Alexander<\/strong> (as <strong>God Particle<\/strong>). Gibbs plays bass in the band <strong>Body Me\u03c0a<\/strong>, whose two albums to date \u2013 2021\u2019s <em>The Work Is Slow<\/em> (HAUSMO120) and 2024\u2019s <em>Prayer in Dub<\/em> (HAUSMO145) \u2013 were released by Hausu Mountain.<\/h5>\n<h1><\/h1>\n<h5>In 2025, Gibbs released <em><strong>Amasia: Anamibia Sessions 2<\/strong> <\/em>on Hausu Mountain, which found him assuming the roles of producer, bandleader, editor, and performer, compositing contributions from a wide cast of collaborators including <strong>Pete Cosey<\/strong>, <strong>Greg Fox<\/strong>, <strong>Chris Williams<\/strong>, <strong>John Medeski<\/strong>, and many more into temporally reunified and meticulously collaged productions of electronic-infused free-jazz experimentation. The album continued a series of LPs that began with <em>Anamibia Sessions 1: The Wave<\/em>, issued on legendary label Editions Mego in 2022.<\/h5>\n<h1><\/h1>\n<h5><strong>Melvin Gibbs<\/strong>\u2019s first book, titled <em><strong>How Black Music Took Over The World<\/strong><\/em>, was published by <strong>Basic Books<\/strong> in April 2026, and received praise from Publishers\u2019 Weekly as \u201ca stimulating take on the complexities and influence of a rich and multifaceted musical tradition\u201d and from The Wire Magazine as \u201ca homage to the many friends, mentors, and collaborators who have handed down their often hard won knowledge [&#8230;] that deserves to be given due time and attention.\u201d<\/h5>\n<h1><\/h1>\n<h5>Gibbs returns to Hausu Mountain with the single <strong>\u201cLift Every Voice and Sing\u201d<\/strong> &#8211; his first new recording to be released after the publication of his first book, presented in concert with the central themes and overlapping personal histories that he explores in his writing and his scholarship. For the single\u2019s artwork, <strong>Melvin Gibbs<\/strong> selected a photograph of his father Rufus Gibbs Jr. holding him on a New York City sidewalk as a baby.<\/h5>\n<h1><\/h1>\n<h5><span style=\"text-decoration-line: underline;\">In Gibbs\u2019s own words:<\/span><\/h5>\n<h1><\/h1>\n<h5>\u201cMy Anamibia Sessions records are based around electronics, sound design, and sound manipulation. And the music, overtly on <em>Anambia Session 1: The Wave<\/em>, and covertly on <em>Amasia: Anamibia Sessions 2<\/em>, has been highly conceptual. To balance that out, I wanted to drop something that really got to the point, something that is just about the song and what I bring to the table as a bassist.<\/h5>\n<h1><\/h1>\n<h5>This solo electric bass arrangement of \u201cLift Every Voice And Sing\u201d, the song written by the brothers James Weldon and J. Rosamond Johnson that the NAACP officially declared \u201cthe Negro National Anthem\u201d in 1919, was commissioned by the National Society of Black Physicists. I first performed the piece at the opening of their 2019 conference. I\u2019ve played it at my solo performances since then. My thinking was that I\u2019d hold off releasing a recording of it until I dropped an album that was solely solo electric bass pieces. But the discussions I\u2019ve had in wake of the release of my book <em><strong>How Black Music Took Over The World<\/strong><\/em> prompted me to release something under my own name that points directly to the musical heritage of Black Americans. So I\u2019ve decided to record and release my arrangement of the Negro National Anthem now.\u201d<\/h5>\n<h1><\/h1>\n<h5>In <em><strong>How Black Music Took Over the World,<\/strong><\/em> <strong>Melvin Gibbs<\/strong> analyzes the power that has led Black music to define the sound of global culture and resonate across styles, borders, and generations, tracing it back to its roots: the musical inheritance of Africa. Beginning with two rhythmic building blocks he calls the \u201ccell\u201d and the \u201cframe,\u201d Gibbs shows how these patterns transport listeners to \u201ca realm where sounds become vehicles for human movement.\u201d Reforged across the African diaspora, from church organs and electric guitars to computers, telephones, to a simple gourd, these sounds form the foundation of global popular music: rock, hip hop, country, pop, dance, and even K-pop. Black musicians are the \u201cscientists of sound,\u201d and the sonic elements they developed are the ingredients that music creators all over the world now use.<\/h5>\n<h1><\/h1>\n<h5>Drawing from his life in music\u2014 the 1980\u2019s punk funk scene of New York City to sessions with jazz legends, Brazilian pop stars, and Senegalese drummers \u2014 Gibbs unites lived experience with deep insight to offer a practitioner\u2019s perspective on Black music and its innovations. Whether he\u2019s exploring Kendrick Lamar\u2019s Super Bowl performance, Beyonc\u00e9\u2019s Cowboy Carter, or the cosmic vibration that links rhythm, sound, and life, <em><strong>How Black Music Took Over the World<\/strong> <\/em>reveals how Black music continues to shape, and inspire, the modern world.<\/h5>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/hausumountain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Melvin-Gibbs-at-Big-Ears-1-Photo-by-Christian-Stewart-scaled.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-7420\" src=\"https:\/\/hausumountain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Melvin-Gibbs-at-Big-Ears-1-Photo-by-Christian-Stewart-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2331\" height=\"2560\" srcset=\"https:\/\/hausumountain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Melvin-Gibbs-at-Big-Ears-1-Photo-by-Christian-Stewart-scaled.jpg 2331w, https:\/\/hausumountain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Melvin-Gibbs-at-Big-Ears-1-Photo-by-Christian-Stewart-273x300.jpg 273w, https:\/\/hausumountain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Melvin-Gibbs-at-Big-Ears-1-Photo-by-Christian-Stewart-933x1024.jpg 933w, https:\/\/hausumountain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Melvin-Gibbs-at-Big-Ears-1-Photo-by-Christian-Stewart-768x843.jpg 768w, https:\/\/hausumountain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Melvin-Gibbs-at-Big-Ears-1-Photo-by-Christian-Stewart-1399x1536.jpg 1399w, https:\/\/hausumountain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Melvin-Gibbs-at-Big-Ears-1-Photo-by-Christian-Stewart-1865x2048.jpg 1865w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2331px) 100vw, 2331px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<h1><\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8211; Digital single to be released on June 19th, 2026. To purchase, head to our Bandcamp page. Lift Every Voice and Sing by Melvin Gibbs Grammy-nominated composer \/ producer \/ bassist Melvin Gibbs has a beyond-diverse background in jazz, rock, &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/hausumountain.com\/?page_id=7644\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":678,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-7644","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hausumountain.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7644","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hausumountain.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hausumountain.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hausumountain.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hausumountain.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7644"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/hausumountain.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7644\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7660,"href":"https:\/\/hausumountain.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7644\/revisions\/7660"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hausumountain.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/678"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hausumountain.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7644"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}