Michael Manring - Teen Town / Sugar / My Three Moons

Michael Manring (b. June 27, 1960) is an American bass guitarist from the San Francisco Bay Area. He is a true visionary and an inimitable stylist who is considered by many to be the world’s leading solo bassist.
He has honed his skills on hundreds of recordings as a session musician and thousands of concerts throughout the world. Michael has worked with a surprisingly diverse collection of musicians from new age keyboardist Suzanne Ciani to avant-improv guitar innovator Henry Kaiser to celebrated folk troubadour John Gorka to experimental post-metal rockers Tim Alexander (Primus) and Alex Skolnick (Testament) to electro-pop pioneer Thomas Dolby. His long-term collaboration and close friendship with the late acoustic guitar genius Michael Hedges led to a lengthy stint as house bassist for Windham Hill Records; a label for whom he also worked as a solo artist, releasing four recordings under his own name: Unusual Weather (1986), Toward the Center of the Night (1989), Drastic Measures (1991) and Thonk (1994). These, along with his 1998 release The Book of Flame (on the Alchemy record label) earned him an international reputation as “a master of the fretless bass without rival” (Guitar Club Magazine, Italy). He has garnered two gold records, Grammy and Bammie nominations, a Berklee School of Music Distinguished Alumni Award, two Just Plain Folks Awards and numerous Bass Player Magazine Reader’s Poll awards including 1994 Bassist of the Year. He was also the subject of a recent PBS TV documentary, The Artist’s Profile: Michael Manring.
In his solo concerts Michael weaves together his musical influences into a tapestry rich with expression, virtuosity, humor and meaning. As one writer put it, “Michael Manring can do more with a bass than even the most creative individual could imagine” (L. Pierce Carson, Napa Valley Register).

[@gregormarini]

It may be that he was a visionary, but here he has serious intonation problems.