Michael Manring: The Enormous Room - live - Canadian Guitar Festival, 2010

[ginaonthebass]

i dont like this...I LOVE ADORE AND AM OVERWHELMED by this...beautiful piece...what a player...id love to see him do this live :)the man is a legend!!

[motoronna]

@ginaonthebass He did the Sligo Jazz Fest back in the summer, and has some European gigs in Finland and France coming up soon. Looks like no immediate plans for the U.K. though! He has a mailing list, and can be contacted at michael -at- manthing.com. Pretty sure he plays the U.K. fairly often.

[mostlytranslucent]

There are many great performances of this incredible composition on the 'Tube... but I think this one is the best. You can hear in it that Mr. Manring has not only studied Jaco closely, but is also chanelling ragas and minimal/ambient like Steve Roach or Sigur Rós. An inspiring musician.

[motoronna]

@mostlytranslucent Thanks. He's playing again at the festival tonight (July 31 2011), but unfortunately I can't make it this year. Hopefully somebody else will film him.

[Gangstafather]

I think Michael Manring is the reason why people should not commit suicide

[sligojazz]

Michael is one of the most underrated musicians alive. I think its perhaps that he is a solo bassist and people switch off when they hear about that as there are so few of us bassists who could captivate an audience like he does. He returns to Sligo Ireland this year the second year running for Sligo Jazz Project's annual summer school., where he will be e bass tutor at our event in the beautiful, if rainy, northwest of Ireland.

[FaceOfShmuck]

The only fault that i can find in this piece of music is that it isn't long enough. Micheal, I have only just discovered you and for that I see myself as a lesser musician. This is my favorite piece of music for the moment. Cant get it out of my head.

[Cre8tvMG]

The greatest bass solo I've ever heard (and I've played bass since the 70s). Superb. Thanks for posting.

[jazzpsalti]

I was just talking to Manring after this performance, about how you really can't put this sound in print. Watching the performance I saw. now in print, is great proof of that. Playing with the resonance and feedback to simulate ebow stuff (during the enormous room, after he puts down the actual ebow) just doesn't translate into print/video. Live, this guy is probably the greatest instrumental artist alive.

[motoronna]

@jazzpsalti I agree. I like making these videos and hope that they help the artists, but it does concern me that people who have never heard Manring might think that the way he sounds on the video is the way he sounds live - when in fact his live sound is so much more incredibly rich. My videos of the instrumental act Aphasia also suffer from this problem. It's not such an issue if there's a singer.

[s11mac]

Is fiddling with the tuners part of the act ?. Very distracting. 

[Flemmingdoerken]

@s11mac I think it probably is. Each string has three different positions with the Hipshot Extenders, so they have to be in tune in all three places individually plus he has different tunings for different songs.

[motoronna]

@Flemmingdoerken Thanks for identifying the Hipshot hardware. Michael explains in the intro that his custom Zon bass "has these levers all over it that allow me to change the tuning while I'm playing". That sounds pretty deliberate to me!

In a TalkBass.com discussion he also says, "The Hipshots on my basses are modified by Zon to allow me to have them on all four strings. It’s a bit tricky to get four on a headstock with enough room for them to function properly..."

[motoronna]

@Flemmingdoerken There's a good video that shows how a single Hipshot Extender works. YouTube won't let me post the URL, but you can find it by searching for "installing hipshot xtender borisoff".

[Flemmingdoerken]

@s11mac I think there are three positions anyway... there may be more.

[Jonlock00]

how does this only have 188 views?!?! that was intense as HELL

[motoronna]

@Jonlock00 I just posted it a couple of days ago...

[Jonlock00]

@motoronna you're right. thank you btw :P

[KDMAnderson]

I was the guy who requested this tune from him and I request this tune EVERY time he plays live.

The five minutes of improv at each end was unexpected, though.

[motoronna]

@KDMAnderson Cool - good choice. Does he play here a lot? I've only seen him twice, both times at the festival.

[wukangmin]

@KDMAnderson wow, so damn good. Nice call man.

[leapbeyond]

Amazing mind & sound, versatile player & lovely touch! Such a magical composition! Thank you!