Bass CDs
Michael Manring Releases New Solo Bass Album, “Small Moments”
“Small Moments,” a new solo bass release from Michael Manring…
The digital version of “Small Moments” was released on April 30, with a physical CD release in the future.
Michael shares some of the extended notes from “Small Moments”…
Maybe it’s old-fashioned but I’ve always loved the idea that being an artist is all about observing what’s happening in the society around you and responding in some meaningful way. I get the feeling this notion went out of style in the tumult of the 20th century and art became a kind of anything goes proposition, but I just can’t seem to let go of it. I have the privilege of traveling a good bit, seeing some interesting parts of the world and meeting lots of people. I’m not sure if I have any special perspective, but I always look for themes and patterns around me and those ideas motivate me in the creative process.
From what I can see, life in the early part of this still new century is increasingly technological and globally inter-connected, complex and full of both possibilities and problems. It continues to be a time of dramatic new conceptions in physics, information and philosophy of mind with remarkable implications for epistemology and society. I find these ideas recur in my thoughts and compositions as I try to make sense of the world around me, and they are reflected in this set of music.
There are many different types of experiences people are having in the current world, but I suppose if there’s one thing we can say about life in the 21st-century it’s that it’s busy. I know it is for me! I spend my life traveling around the world playing with many different musicians as well as by myself, teaching, doing many different kinds of recording for a wide variety of artists and raising a family as best I can. Every week there’s new music to learn, gigs to promote, equipment to take care of, travel plans to be made, social media to stay on top of and a host of other odds and ends that need my attention. It’s a good life but it doesn’t leave much time for my greatest musical passion — composing. I’m a slow composer and I love taking a musical idea, working with it, developing it, listening to it, experimenting with it in all its permutations and trying to decide how it can best be realized.
This busy life is especially difficult for writing solo bass music because that’s best served by long stretches of uninterrupted time alone with the instrument. With all that’s been going on in recent years I’ve had to learn to relegate my composing to the little bits of time I can steal at the ends of busy days, in airports or train stations, on airplanes, trains or in cars, walking from place to place, while picking up my kids from soccer, etc. The music for this project came about through this process, in bits and pieces in various parts of the world whenever there were a few moments of downtime. It was a slow process but a labor of love, and in these small moments, I have found some sense of fulfillment. For me, each piece here has a story to tell and I would like to try to share them with you.
NOW AVAILABLE FOR DIGITAL DOWNLOAD FROM ALL YOUR FAVORITE MUSIC SITES
For more on “Small Moments,” Visit online at manthing.com