Michael Clement Irving Gibbs (born September 25, 1937 in Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia) is a jazz composer, conductor, arranger and producer as well as a trombonist and keyboardist.

He is known for collaborations with Gary Burton, his student, and for his use of rock elements in orchestral jazz.

Career

He studied piano from age seven to thirteen and took up trombone at seventeen. In 1959 he moved to Boston to study at the Berklee College of Music and the Boston Conservatory. At Berklee he studied under and worked with Herb Pomeroy. He graduated from Berklee in 1962 and the conservatory in 1963. In 1965 he returned to what was then Southern Rhodesia, but later was associated with the United Kingdom.

After recording with Graham Collier, John Dankworth, Kenny Wheeler and Mike Westbrook in the late 1960s, he released his first album Michael Gibbs in 1970.

From 1969 to 1974 Gibbs was musical director for the BBC TV comedy programme The Goodies. 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 music for the show.

Gibbs' orchestras were important stages in the careers of various fusion musicians, and his arranging, conducting and producing work was well appreciated (see discography).

Selected discography

Albums as leader/co-leader

• Michael Gibbs (1970, Deram)
• Tanglewood 63 (1971, Deram)
• Just Ahead (1972, Polydor)
• In The Public Interest (1974, Polydor)
• Seven Songs For Quartet And Chamber Orchestra (1974, ECM)
• The Only Chrome Waterfall Orchestra (1975, Bronze)
• Big Music (1988, Virgin/Venture)
• By The Way (1993, ah um)
• Europeana (1995, ACT)
• Nonsequence (2001, Provocateur)

Soundtracks

• Madame Sin (1972)
• Housekeeping (1987, Varèse Sarabande/MCA)
• Iron & Silk (1991, The Fine Line/Mute)
• Hard-Boiled (1993, The Fine Line/Mute)
• Being Human (1993, Varèse Sarabande/MCA)
• Century/Close My Eyes (1994, The Fine Line/Mute)