Melvin Gibbs composes music, plays the bass, and performs in many bands, alongside many other musicians. Time Out Magazine has called him “the greatest bassist in the world.”

Melvin is also a writer. In recent years, he's been writing a book. Tentatively titled The Science of Black Music, the book is about music as a science and the connections between modes of thought common to Black music and to current science.

One of Melvin's many collaborators is Arto Lindsay, whose deliberately “unschooled guitar” sound is a mixture of punk, pop, samba, and bossa nova.

The evening begins with Arto talking with Melvin about the research that has gone into The Science of Black Music.

Then, Arto and Melvin perform a live duo set.