How Black Music Took Over the World
Contributors
By Melvin Gibbs
Formats and Prices
- On Sale
- Apr 14, 2026
- Page Count
- 304 pages
- Publisher
- Basic Books
- ISBN-13
- 9781541603240
Price
$30.00Price
$40.00 CADFormat
Format:
- Hardcover $30.00 $40.00 CAD
- ebook $17.99 $22.99 CAD
- Audiobook Download (Unabridged) $27.99
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Why do Bob Marley, John Coltrane, Aretha Franklin, and Nina Simone move us the way they do? What drives the worried notes of the Delta blues? What makes Beyoncé’s triumph Cowboy Carter inescapably great?
As Melvin Gibbs shows in How Black Music Took Over the World, it is the musical inheritance of Africa. Beginning with two rhythmic building blocks he calls the cell and the frame, Gibbs shows how those tools can transport listeners to “a realm where sounds become vehicles for human movement.” Reforged in the African diaspora in the Americas, they are played today on church organs, electric guitars, computers, telephones, or a simple gourd. Kool & the Gang called Black musicians the “scientists of sound”—and Gibbs shows how they discovered the world’s music.
Gibbs’s vantage is unique. A world-class musician fluent in many genres, Gibbs is as comfortable in an old-school Times Square record shop as he is breaking down mathematics and music theory with university professors. Imbued with his own journey and a sharp eye for the sins and triumphs of history, How Black Music Took Over the World is an unforgettable revelation of one of humanity’s greatest achievements.
Genre:
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“From the first time I saw Melvin Gibbs onstage, I could immediately tell that Melvin knew stuff that I did not know. I could tell from the look in his eyes and his wry smile that he was thinking big thoughts at the same time he was using his bass to drive the punk rock grooves and to shake the room. Now, all these years later, I've been proven correct. Melvin Gibbs is a keen observer of everything he has seen, and he has seen a lot. Melvin's prose grooves just as hard as his bass playing.”W. Kamau Bell, comedian, author, and director
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“In How Black Music Took Over the World—part thesis, sonic roadmap, and autobiography—Melvin Gibbs, bass player and well-traveled veteran musician extraordinaire, takes the reader on a compelling and immersive journey, not only into music’s DNA, but also into why and how it does what it does to us. Conclusion: music is life and inextricably woven into the human experience. A deeply researched and well-written work.”Henry Rollins, writer and radio show host
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“An insightful, revelatory, and informative read that lives in the realm of both information and healing salve to many of my own burning questions.”Meshell Ndegeocello, singer-songwriter and poet
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