Terry Gibbs

All Music Guide:

One of the most hyper of all jazzmen (even his ballads are taken mostly double time), Terry Gibbs is a consistently exciting and competitive vibraphonist. As a xylophonist, he won an amateur contest when he was 12. After spending three years in the military during World War II, Gibbs played on 52nd Street, gigged with Tommy Dorsey (1946 and 1948), Chubby Jackson (touring Scandinavia during 1947-1948), Buddy Rich (1948), Woody Herman's Second Herd (1948-1949), and Benny Goodman (1950-1952). Gibbs settled in Los Angeles in 1957, worked in the studios, led jazz orchestras (his late-'50s version was called the Terry Gibbs Dream Band), was the musical director of The Steve Allen Show during the 1960s, and in the 1980s and '90s he teamed up in a quintet with Buddy DeFranco. Gibbs -- who recorded as a leader for Prestige, Savoy, Brunswick, EmArcy, Mercury, Verve, Time, Impulse, Dot, Xanadu, Jazz a La Carte, and Contemporary (among others) -- had such fine pianists as his sidemen through the years as Terry Pollard, Pete Jolly (on accordion in 1957), Alice McLeod (in 1963 before she became Alice Coltrane), and John Campbell.

Wikipedia:

Terry Gibbs (born Julius Gubenko on 13 October 1924) is an American jazz vibraphonist and band leader.

He has performed and/or recorded with Tommy Dorsey, Chubby Jackson, Buddy Rich, Woody Herman, Benny Goodman, Louie Bellson, Charlie Shavers, Mel Tormé, Buddy DeFranco, and others. Gibbs also worked in the film and TV studios in Los Angeles.

In the 1950-1951 season, Gibbs was a popular guest on Star Time on the DuMont Television Network. Thereafter, he was a regular in 1953-1954 on NBC's Judge for Yourself.

In the late 1950s, he appeared on NBC's The Steve Allen Show, on which he regularly played lively vibraphone duets with the entertainer and composer. In 1997. he appeared on Steve Allen's 75th Birthday Celebration on PBS. Gibbs was also the band leader on the short lived That Regis Philbin Show. As an instrumentalist, together with his big band The Dream Band, Gibbs has won prestigious polls, such as those of Downbeat and Metronome.

Gibbs has written his autobiography, Good Vibes: A Life in Jazz, with Cary Ginell.