HOW BLACK MUSIC TOOK OVER THE WORLD

A veteran bass player considers the wide-ranging history of rhythm, alongside his own story.

An eclectic musician, Gibbs has performed with jazz legend Sonny Sharrock, the pioneering alt-funk act Defunkt, the punk-metal ensemble Rollins Band, Brazilian-inflected experimental groups led by Arto Lindsay, and more. Each genre has made its own demands on his skills, and while the book’s title is a bit of a misnomer—it’s not a history as such—he thoughtfully explores how most popular music styles are rooted in African and African American approaches to rhythm. Each chapter is a kind of clinic on each style, featuring an anecdote from his own history as a musician—discovering Afro-Cuban music growing up in New York City, weathering an intimidating audition with experimental-jazz legend Ornette Coleman, touring the world with the demanding and hyperphysical punk veteran Henry Rollins—before exploring the fine points of a genre’s history and structure. To do so, he uses a “frame,” a clock-like image to visualize how each genre approaches multilayered beats. One point he stresses is that the concept of syncopation, in its Western definition of being “off-beat,” is a fundamentally Western concept that treats many Black-rooted genres as “wrong.” Many of the examples he shares of that are engrossing, particularly the “ring shout” and Pattin’ Juba, a cappella styles developed by enslaved people who had their instruments stripped of them. (Another theme Gibbs returns to is that Black musicians have often had to do more with less, prompting innovative approaches.) Sometimes this gets messy—his discussion of various rhythmic frames can get convoluted, and his use of scientific (especially genetic) metaphors feels like overreaching. But his passion comes through consistently, and his discussion of his own versatility is winning and never boastful.

A smart if sometimes overheated journey into high-level music-making.