Jazz Series Episode 6: Terry Gibbs

In Episode Six, Dave Reis speaks with internationally renowned, award-winning jazz musician and centenarian, Terry Gibbs, via Zoom from Australia! Terry Gibbs, was born Julius Gubenkon in 1924. The renowned American jazz vibraphonist and band leader is 101 years old!

According to his Wikipedia page, Gibbs has performed or recorded with many of the greatest names in Jazz, including  Tommy Dorsey, Chubby Jackson, Buddy Rich, Woody Herman, Benny Goodman, Alice Coltrane, Louie Bellson, Charlie Shavers, Mel Tormé, and Buddy DeFranco to name just a few.

"I am the oldest bebopper alive!” proclaims 93-year-old Terry Gibbs, according to an article in Jazz Times, "This forefather of the jazz vibraphone may well be right; age-wise he beats out his closest competitors, including Roy Haynes (92), Jimmy Heath (91), Lee Konitz (90) and Sheila Jordan (89). Certainly, few musicians of any age can top his ability to whip up a storm of excitement on his instrument."

The Artist Index's jazz documentarian and Jazz Podcast Series host, Dave Reis, spent nearly 26 years as a Jazz radio show host, among his many other accomplishments. He was one of the original longtime DJs who worked at the former WUSM, which became radio station WUMD, 89.3 FM, on the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth campus.

Dave Reis, AKA David Domingo Reis, began as our guest on In-Focus Podcast 154 and In-Focus Podcast 181. He returns once again as the host of our first-ever ten-part jazz podcast series underwritten by the Fiber Optic Center.

There is no better host for this series than Dave Reis, a walking, talking jazz encyclopedia and local legend himself. Dave grew up surrounded