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Michael Manring
Michael Manring Live at iMusicast
Michael Manring Live at iMusicast
Background information
Born June 1960,

Washington, D.C.,

U.S.
Genre(s) Jazz, World music
Occupation(s) Bassist
Instrument(s) electric bass
Years active around 1975 – present
Label(s) Windham Hill | Highstreet | Alchemy | Manthing Music
Website www.manthing.com

Michael Manring (born June 1960 in Washington, D.C.) is an American electric bassist from the San Francisco Bay Area, (Northern California). Year 1960 ( MCMLX) was a Leap year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Washington DC ( formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, the District, or simply D The United States of America —commonly referred to as the A music genre is a categorical and typological construct that identifies musical sounds as belonging to a particular category and type of music that can be distinguished from other Jazz is an American Musical art form which originated in the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States The term world music includes Traditional music (sometimes called Folk music or roots music of any culture that are created and played by indigenous musicians A bass player (bassist is a Musician who plays a Double bass, Bass guitar, keyboard bass or wind A musical instrument is a device constructed or modified for the purpose of making Music. The electric bass guitar (also called electric bass, or simply bass; ˈbeɪs as in "base" is a Stringed instrument played primarily with the In the Music industry, a record label can be a Brand and a Trademark associated with the Marketing of music recordings and Music Windham Hill Records was an Independent record label, founded in 1976 by Guitarist and Carpenter William Ackerman and his then-wife Year 1960 ( MCMLX) was a Leap year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Washington DC ( formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, the District, or simply D The electric bass guitar (also called electric bass, or simply bass; ˈbeɪs as in "base" is a Stringed instrument played primarily with the The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, or the Bay, is a geographically and ethnically diverse metropolitan region that surrounds the Northern California is the northern portion of the US state of California.

Contents

Biography

Michael Manring was born as youngest of four children. His family lived in Norfolk, Virginia, Virginia and moved to the suburbs of Washington, D.C in 1969. Norfolk is an Independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States The Commonwealth of Virginia ( is an American state Washington DC ( formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, the District, or simply D The Manrings were a very active family musically, providing a very fertile background for Michaels musical development. He and his brother Doug - a guitarist and drummer, later living a long time in Japan - formed a very active rhythm group still being at highschool, venturing through jazz rock und fusion, playing rock classics at beer parties or pop standards in restaurants and at weddings. Fusion or more specifically jazz fusion or jazz rock, is a Musical genre that merges Jazz with elements of other styles of music particularly A fusion genre is a music genre which combines two or more genres Rock music is a genre of Popular music often though not necessarily employing Electric guitar, Bass guitar, and Drums. Pop music as a genre features a noticeable rhythmic element catchy melodies and hooks, a mainstream style and conventional structure [1]

Manring was a pupil of bassist Peter Princiotto from Spring Hill area, Virginia. He began to study at Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts in the late 1970ties, but canceled his studies in 1979 because of the heavy workload he already had, touring with several different bands like the Prog Rock band However. Berklee College of Music, founded in 1945 is an independent music College in Boston Massachusetts. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts ( is a state located in the New England region of the northeastern United States. [2] During his time at Berklee College he used every opportunity to play with very different musicians and bands. In the 1980s he studied and toured with Jaco Pastorius and began to develop his own style. John Francis Anthony "Jaco" Pastorius III (December 1 1951–September 21 1987 was a American Jazz Musician and Composer widely [3]

In addition to a long tenure in the 1980's as house bassist for Windham Hill Records, Manring has recorded with Spastic Ink, Alex Skolnick (in the bands Skol-Patrol and Attention Deficit, also featuring Tim Alexander from Primus), Larry Kassin, Tom Darter, Steve Morse, David Cullen, Alex de Grassi, Will Ackerman and many other noted musicians. Windham Hill Records was an Independent record label, founded in 1976 by Guitarist and Carpenter William Ackerman and his then-wife Spastic Ink is a progressive technical metal band from the United States. Alex Skolnick (born September 29, 1968, grew up in Berkeley California) is an American jazz and metal Guitarist. Tim "Herb" Alexander (born April 10, 1965 in Cherry Point North Carolina) is an American Musician, best known as Primus is an American rock band currently composed of singer and bassist Les Claypool, guitarist Larry "Ler" LaLonde, and Steven J Morse (born July 28, 1954 in Hamilton Ohio) is an American Guitarist, best known as the founder for the Dixie Alex de Grassi is an American Grammy Award -nominated Fingerstyle guitarist William Ackerman is a Grammy winning guitarist and composer of acoustic -based instrumental Music. He headlined his own band, Montreux, throughout the 1980s. Montreux was the name of a fusion band specializing in the blend of Jazz and bluegrass, with jam elements The 1980s was the decade spanning from January 1 1980 to December 31 1989. He has been a member of Yo Miles!, Henry Kaiser and Wadada Leo Smith's Miles Davis tribute band, since its inception. Henry Kaiser (born 19 September 1952, Oakland California) is a widely-recorded experimental Guitarist and frequent collaborator with other musicians Ishmael Wadada Leo Smith ( 18 December 1941 in Leland Mississippi) is a Trumpeter and composer working primarily in the fields of Avant-garde Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26 1926 &ndash September 28 1991 was an American Jazz Trumpeter, Bandleader, and Composer. 1994 Manring was polled Bassist Of The Year by the readers of Bass Player magazine. [4] Manring's name is also tied with that of fingerstyle guitarist Michael Hedges, who was a dear friend and fellow musician. Fingerstyle guitar is the technique of playing the Guitar by plucking the strings directly with the fingertips fingernails or picks attached to fingers as opposed to Michael Hedges ( December 31, 1953 &ndash December 2, 1997) was an American acoustic Guitarist born in Sacramento Manring toured extensively with Hedges and played on all Hedges albums except one. [4] Manring is known as a humble and gracious live performer with a gift for improvisation with guest musicians.

Since 2005 Manring is member of the band DeMania with Manring, guitarist Alex de Grassi and percussionist Christopher Garcia. Alex de Grassi is an American Grammy Award -nominated Fingerstyle guitarist

Michael Manring remains active, touring the world for performances and clinics. He lives in Oakland, California. Oakland (ˈoʊklənd founded in 1852 is the eighth-largest city in the U [5]

Music and musical influences

Because of his association with the Windham Hill Label Manring often was seen as a New Age musician. New Age ( New Age Movement and New Age Spirituality) is a Social Collective Phenomenon and a Spiritual Nature He doesn't see himself as belonging to a certain style or genre and often jokes about categorising his music. His album Thonk he termed for example ". . . the first New Age–Death Metal–Fusion–album“. Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal. It typically employs fast tempos heavily distorted guitars deep growling vocals morbid lyrics A fusion genre is a music genre which combines two or more genres [2]

Manring has a solid musical knowledge and uses the bass as a solo instrument usually in alternate tunings, with additional possibilities and patterns invoked on the fly with lever-activated de-tuners and bridges, somewhat like a pedal steel guitar. The pedal steel guitar is a type of Electric guitar that uses a metal slide to stop the strings rather than fingers on strings as with a conventional guitar He wants to show that the electric bass can be used in a musically rich and expressive way. [2] Manring occasionally plays on two (or even three or four) basses at the same time during live performances. Manring is also a composer of experimental music, mixing technology and fretless bass with the sounds of kitchen implements and cardboard boxes, evidenced on his "Book of Flame" solo album.

He is a technical virtuoso, generally using his bass in very different ways and more like a guitar. Mostly he plays a fretless bass, which gives him ample possibilties to change tone and pitch just like on acoustic bass. Manring is rhythmically very versatile and often uses polyrhythms. [2] He's said to do ". . . things on the electric bass that haven’t been done before, are nearly impossible, and (are) illegal in most states. "[6]. A very special technique used by Manring is the tuning change of single or several strings in the course of playing a piece.

Normally Manring's virtuosity only serves the musical process. Some of his pieces though show off and generate musical thunderstorms paradoxically conveying a meaningful musical message. His love of music and his never tiring enthusiasm is always perceptible and unbroken since nearly three decades.

Equipment

Manring plays a custom bass by Zon Guitars, the so called Zon Hyperbass, a very flexible instrument, which was developed by Joseph Zon and Manring. [7] Special tuning pegs and a special bridge allow instantaneous tuning change of single strings as well as of all strings simultaneously by the action of several tiny levers, a system like that of the Trans-Trem guitar. Trans-Trem is a guitar tremolo system developed by Steinberger in 1984 The development of this special model was caused by Manring's use of open tunings. When Manring began changing tunings during pieces by turning the pegs while playing,[2] he soon realised the limitations of this approach. First he tried to overcome these limitations by changing a normal Music Man Sting Ray Bass, but then began to develop the Hyperbass with Zon. The Hyperbass has Bartolini pickups for every string and four Fishman Transducer for the body signals of the instruments. A transducer is a device usually electrical, electronic, Electro-mechanical, Electromagnetic, Photonic, or Photovoltaic

Apart from the Hyperbass Manring uses a whole fleet of instruments, a listing at his website gives the following models:[8]

Manring uses several bass amplifiers, among others the SWR Mo' Bass amp, a multi effect bass amp.

Partial discography

collected from[9][10][11][12] and[13]

Original work

Collaborations

with Michael Hedges
with Montreux
with John Gorka
with Paolo Giordano
with Turtle String Island Quartet
with Attention Deficit
with Yo Miles
with Sadhappy
with Scott McGill und Vic Stevens
with Larry Kassin und Tom Darter
with David Cullen
with Human Factor
with At War With Self
with DeMania
with Jeff Dodd

Compilations

Windham Hill compilations
BMG compilations
other label's compilations

DVD, video

References

  1. ^ Doug Manring Bio at Doug Manrings website. Accessed on November 22, 2007.
  2. ^ a b c d e MICHAEL MANRING . Beyond genres and niches by Anil Prasad. Accessed on November 22, 2007.
  3. ^ Alum Profile – Michael Manring '79 at Berklee College. Accessed on November 24, 2007.
  4. ^ a b Michael Manring Interview by Matt Guthrie, April 15, 1994. Accessed on November 21, 2007.
  5. ^ Michael Manring Contact Info at his website. Accessed on November 22, 2007.
  6. ^ CD-Baby review of CD Soliloquy. Accessed on November 22, 2007.
  7. ^ Hyperbass, website of Zon Guitars. Accessed on November 24, 2007.
  8. ^ Michael Manring's tunings. Accessed on November 22, 2007.
  9. ^ Michael Manring at Amazon. Search on November 24, 2007.
  10. ^ Michael Manring's biography by Jorge Pescara (br.). Accessed on November 24, 2007.
  11. ^ John Gorka, Musicmatch Guide. Accessed on November 24, 2007.
  12. ^ Michael Manring, Musicmatch Guide. Accessed on November 25, 2007.
  13. ^ Windham Hill album discography. Accessed on November 24, 2007.

External links

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