Harriet Tubman

A power trio grounded in jazz, Harriet Tubman fuse the hard-hitting force of rock with the open-ended inquiry of free improvisation, taking their name from the revered civil rights activist and abolitionist whose life was spent securing liberty for her people. The musicians first convened in the final years of the 1990s and have since produced several compelling recordings, including Prototype in 2000 and Araminta in 2017, the latter featuring guest trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith.

Formed in New York City in 1998, the ensemble comprises bassist Melvin Gibbs, guitarist Brandon Ross, and percussionist J.T. Lewis. Before the trio’s formation, Gibbs had already assembled a wide-ranging catalog through work with Ronald Shannon Jackson, Arto Lindsay, George Clinton, and Henry Rollins. Ross had likewise collaborated earlier with Cassandra Wilson, Henry Threadgill, and Don Byron, while Lewis had alternated between pop sessions for Whitney Houston, Sting, and Donna Summer and jazz dates alongside Bill Laswell, William Parker, and Roy Ayers.

The group’s first album, I Am a Man, appeared in 1998 on the Knitting Factory Works imprint, followed in 2000 by Prototype on the Avant label. Separate schedules postponed their next studio meeting until 2011, when Sunnyside Communications released Ascension. Harriet Tubman resurfaced in early 2017 with Araminta, again crediting Wadada Leo Smith as guest alongside Gibbs, Ross, and Lewis, and The Terror End of Beauty, produced by Scotty Hard, arrived the year after.