David Gibson is a New York-based trombonist, composer, arranger, bandleader, and educator whose music strikes a balance between post-bop rigor and emotional transparency. Influenced by jazz trombone masters like J.J. Johnson, Curtis Fuller, and Slide Hampton, Gibson has performed with Roy Hargrove, Jon Faddis, James Moody, and the Dizzy Gillespie All-Star Big Band. A longtime member of Orrin Evans’s GRAMMY-nominated Captain Black Big Band, he has contributed compositions and arrangements that have helped to define the ensemble’s sound.
Raised in Yukon, Oklahoma, Gibson was shaped by a strong public-school music program and an active local jazz community. In high school, he studied privately with trombonist Paul Brewer and later attended the University of Central Oklahoma, where he began composing and forming small ensembles. “I started writing charts and putting groups together which helped me figure out what works and what doesn’t,” he recalls. Gibson went on to earn a master’s degree in jazz composition from the Eastman School of Music.
After a formative stretch in Rochester playing funk, reggae, and salsa, Gibson moved to New York in 1999 and immersed himself in the local scene. He became a regular at Salt, a restaurant and informal music venue curated by Spike Wilner. “I went there every night that they had music,” he says. “You never knew who was going to be there — Tommy Flanagan and Bob Belden both lived down the street, Peter Bernstein played there often.” At Salt, Gibson met alto saxophonist Ian Hendrickson-Smith, drummer Joe Strasser, and pianist Jeremy Manasia, eventually joining the Hot Pants Funk Sextet and playing early residencies at the newly opened Smoke Jazz Club.
His debut as a leader, Maya (2002, Nagel Heyer), marked the beginning of a long line of recordings exploring group interplay and original writing. After a series of rotating lineups, he found stability with A Little Somethin’ (2009, Posi-Tone), which launched a working organ band featuring Jared Gold, Quincy Davis, and Julius Tolentino. “We played the first Friday of every month at Fat Cat,” Gibson recalls. “That group really started to get a sound.” He continued to develop this sound on End of the Tunnel (2011), Boom! (2015), and Inner Agent (2016), shaping a tighter quintet sound with Josh Evans, Theo Hill, Alex Claffy, and Kush Abadey. The ensemble evolved further during informal pandemic-era jam sessions in Gibson’s Manhattan apartment which welcomed Davis Whitfield and Joseph Lepore to the mix.
This group became the core of Fellowship (2024, Imani Records), recorded live at Samurai Hotel and produced by Orrin Evans. “It’s really a band — a curated ensemble that curated itself,” says Gibson. Recent key additions are drummer Jay Sawyer and pianist Cameron Campbell, whom Gibson invited to join the group after hearing him at a Smalls jam session. The band continues to perform around New York, with a follow-up album slated for 2026.
Reflecting on a formative moment early in his career, Gibson recalls being onstage while Lonnie Smith, Slide Hampton, and Eddie Henderson were in the audience. “I had to decide to do the thing I’d asked to do — not to think about who was in the room,” he says. That experience sharpened his focus and humility. “I don’t go to the bandstand because I’m so good,” he adds. “I go to the bandstand because the music is so good. And I want to be part of it.”
