Born on November 6, 1913, in Zanesville, Ohio, Gibson played violin and trumpet early on and performed in a variety of bands before settling in as an arranger and composer by about 1937. His first big break was being hired by Ellington, for whom he worked as a copyist, observing the orchestra of the man he would always hold in the highest esteem as the arranger he most admired.(1) He was next hired by Charlie Barnet, with whom he would work well into the future, specifically to write new takes on some Ellington tunes. No easy feat, considering Duke’s pioneering originality, Gibson began to make his abilities really stand out by managing "...to retain the essence of the originals and yet make them sound just different enough to have his own stamp on them."(2) Next came Harry James, with whom he perhaps made his first really indelible marks on history. James had hired the 23-year-old Frank Sinatra in 1939. When James asked Sinatra to sing his first song live with the band, they had no vocal charts to use, so Frank called Star Dust and acquitted himself quite well. Following this, James immediately had Gibson begin writing what would be the young unknown’s first serious, professional charts.(3)

His work with Charlie Barnet and Harry James often featured surprising rhythmic figures and articulations, especially accented notes, that would later become a hallmark of the bebop movement. His work in the late 1930s almost certainly provided inspiration for Tadd Dameron, with whom Gibson would share arranging duties for Count Basie in 1940. His harmonies were often very sophisticated for the time period and included upper-extension alterations such as 13(b9), 9(#11) and 7(#5b5). Perhaps from his study of Ellington’s work, Gibson was also fond of using a wide variety of mutes and effects in the brass section. He effectively used this tonal color palette in background material behind soloists or to provide variations in melodic content; creatively framing the work around the painting being created by a soloist was one of Gibson's trademarks.(4)

Gibson entered the US Army in 1942, leading his own big band across Europe until discharged in 1945. He continued working for Barnet, as they were a fine match; both of them had their own unique styles and open-minded ways of approaching life and music. A colorful character, Barnet was quite forward-thinking for the time, integrating his big band before nearly anyone else, and moving toward bebop sounds quite early for a swing big band leader.(5) By the end of the 1940s, they both were yearning for new directions. Barnet semi-retired and never played music full-time again, and Gibson began focusing on R&B, eventually becoming music director for King Records in Cincinnati. He continued composing, with some of his best-known works being The Hucklebuck, The Great Lie, I Left My Baby, From the Bottom of My Heart, and Shorty George. By the late 1950s, he was working in various styles, and writer/producer Stanley Dance tells a great story that shows not only Dance’s reverence for the historically underappreciated Gibson, but vividly illustrates the true versatility this man possessed. Dance had been hired to produce what he referred to as a “mainstream” jazz record, and decided that one side would have a small group, and one side a big band; he and Gibson consulted and debated on the personnel, and then Gibson wrote the arrangement. It was to be a long blues, designed with the hope of capturing the intense dynamics and improvisations longer pieces sometimes inspired. Names included Milt Hinton, Dicky Wells, Vic Dickenson, the young Kenny Burrell, and the star of the show, Paul Gonsalves, who "rode on through" the "stormy choruses" "triumphantly," as he had been known to do.(6)

The young Burrell asked Gibson at the end of the session what it would be called, and Gibson replied, "Blueprint - a kind of design for what ought to be."(7) Following the session, Gibson had a rock ‘n’ roll studio date, to which Dance and Gonsalves accompanied him as curious spectators. Not enamored with the relatively new music that was exploding across America, Dance was rather dismissive. Many rock records, he felt, “sound as though they were made in a tin barn with the minimum of forethought and care.”(8) Despite this, he lauded Gibson’s approach as being identical to the expert professionalism he had shown earlier in the day, paying precisely equal attention to, "routining, timing, dynamics, phrasing, and tempo" as well as recording balance.(9) He and Gonsalves soon left, not enjoying the music, but marvelling at the depth and breadth of Andy Gibson’s abilities.

One of the defining characteristics of American music is the manner in which artists have continued to develop songs, ideas, and themes from the past as part of their own original creative pathways. From the earliest iterations of jazz in and around New Orleans in the late 19th and early 20th century that took blues and ragtime to new places, to Gibson and his contemporary swing era arrangers who constantly breathed new life and style into standards, to the bebop/hard bop/post bop greats who did the same at a new level, right up to the rap greats of the ‘90s who combined some of all of this with funk themes to create an international sensation, the greatest of our musical figures always continue pushing the American musical tradition forward - toward what it "ought to be."

Gibson was apparently one for whom this was his seminal musical trait. His skills were sought out by so many playing in very different styles during years that were truly transformative in the American musical world. From his rare ability to re-interpret Ellington, to his writing the very first arrangements performed by Frank Sinatra as a serious pro, to his shift to R&B and authorship of The Hucklebuck (which was a transformation of Charlie Parker’s Now’s the Time), Gibson was unusually versatile. He was a definite part of the tradition of both making the old new again and pressuring the music forward. He seemed to have an innate ability to re-imagine great music of the past, as well as write his own new tunes. Moving expertly from jazz to R&B to rock, he illustrated how style boundaries are often not noticed by true visionaries; after all, Parker loved his 'with strings' records and was fond of country music.

Sadly, Gibson died of a heart attack in Cincinnati at age 47 on February 10, 1961. One is left wondering what the future may have brought from this restless, fertile mind during the coming years of seismic changes in the music world. We will never know, but thankfully we do have many surviving arrangements that give a solid glimpse into this unique, creative musical mind.

-Doug DuBoff

End Notes:

(1)Stanley Dance, The World of Swing: An Oral History of Big Band Jazz, Da Capo Press, 2001, Pg.231

(2)http://jazzmuseuminharlem.org/today-in-jazz/happy-birthday-andy-gibson/

(3)Charles L. Granata, Sessions with Sinatra, Chicago Review Press, 2004, Pg. 5

(4)Rob DuBoff, Conversations with the Author.

(5)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Barnet

(6)Stanley Dance, The World of Swing: An Oral History of Big Band Jazz, Da Capo Press, 2001, Pg. 230

(7)Stanley Dance, The World of Swing: An Oral History of Big Band Jazz, Da Capo Press, 2001, Pg. 230

(8)Stanley Dance, Andy Gibson, Arranger, Just Jazz 4, Souvenir Press, Ltd., 1960, Pg. 58

(9)Stanley Dance, Andy Gibson, Arranger, Just Jazz 4, Souvenir Press, Ltd., 1960, Pg. 58