Recorded at Triad Studios in Redmond, WA July 2008
Tom Hall - Engineer
Doug Barnett - Bass
Mark Ivester - Drums
Andy Suzuki - Flute
Rick Schmunk - Guitar
Nick Manson - Keyboards, Mixing, & Mastering

Clown Feet Remastered

Recorded last summer at Ocean Way in Nashville. I re-harmed/arranged it and played Rhodes on it. Larry Braggs from Tower Of Power supplies the lead vocal muscle and Darelle Holden provides startling bgvs. I also did a very slick arrangement of "Isn't She Lovely" that I may share later...I'm looking forward to my next sessions in Nashville at the end of August!

Living For The City - Nick Manson with Larry Braggs

Larry Braggs -Vox, Marcus Finnie -Drums, Danny O'Lannerghty -Bass, Pat Bergeson -Nylon Guitar & Harmonica & yours truly, on Piano/arrangement. Cut live, one take at Ocean Way, Nashville, July 2012.

Isn't She Lovely - Nick Manson with Larry Braggs

I composed and recorded "Toy Box Tune" in 2010. Since that time it has just been sitting in my catalog of compositions. Last week my publisher informed me that "Toy Box Tune" will be in episode #209 of "David Makes Man" on the Oprah Network. For as long as I have been doing this, I still enjoy the surprises that can still happen from time to time. Thank you to DiskEyes and Art Ford for making this placement happen!

Toy Box Tune

"Kazeh", is an original composition written by Lennie Moore for our first band called "Sometimes Y". Lennie, Andy Suzuki, Doug Anderson and myself were four kids from the Seattle, WA area that loved the jazz fusion that we grew up with in the 70's & 80's (Weather Report, Jeff Beck, Yellow Jackets, Brecker Bros.). If you like funky slap bass, slamming gated drums, loud electric guitar, layered synthesizers and tenor sax pyrotechnics,  then this is the music for you...The entire cd is still available at iTunes, Spotify, etc., under Sometimes Y.

Kazeh Composed by Lennie Moore

For me this is a classic example of epic writing and arranging for the classic jazz fusion genre modeled by Weather Report, Yellow Jackets and the L.A. Express. Andy Suzuki wrote this for his first release; a two cd juggernaut simple self titled. Disc one included only acoustic music covering a multitude of group configurations and disc two covered a multitude of electric based configurations. I had a blast soloing over "Angel" with my MultiMoog! Enjoy!!!

Angel - Composed by Andy Suzuki

On September 8th, 2014, Phoenix experienced a once in a 100 years deluge. I hunkered down in the studio and composed this on my DAW, with one thought. I'm so fortunate to have my wife, Nona, ever present in my life. She's right in step with me through every storms in life. For you plug-in fans, there's tons of Spectrasonics, Synthogy, Addictive Drums, Scarbee and IK Multimedia involved in this production. In 1983 I spent a ton of time transcribing Jeff Berlin on Alan Holdsworth's "Road Games" and Victory Bailey's playing on Weather Report's "Procession". Consequently, this is a bass player's gauntlet. LOL! Enjoy

Ever Present

Those who know me well know that I spent 3 decades playing nearly every style of music on the planet as a studio musician. As much as I love straight ahead jazz, I've always been way into instrumental music that came from the '70s by folks like Tom Scott, Jazz Crusader, Victor Feldman, Jeff Lorber, George Duke, Joe Farrell and John Klemmer, to name a small few. Clown Feet is a tip of the hat to the Lorber tunes of the late 70's when the heads were typically all doubled by a Fender Rhodes or synth with flute, soprano or tenor sax. This recording is from my 5th cd called "Lost, But Not Forgotten". Lots of Rhodes, Wurlitzer and synths. It's available at iTunes, Amazon, etc...Enjoy!

Clown Feet

I love Jaco Pastorious' music. I spent a lot of time transcribing his bass lines and solos in the '80's. I've written several pieces that are homages to him in the past. I had forgotten about this tune, "Espionage". I have recently been cleaning and reorganizing my library of original compositions hard drive (200+ tunes now)and have been coming across tunes I had completely forgotten about...a little "spy" jazz fusion for you to enjoy...there's more to come!

Espionage

Gene Wilder's passing has had a great impact upon all of us that loved the original "Willy Wonka" movie. Gene's dedication to his craft was something that we should all strive for in any and all of our endeavors.

Sat down after a cup of coffee and this improvisation is what appeared before my mind's eye this time...enjoy the peacefulness.

Pure Imagination Piano Improv

So often I am cornered by people and sometimes other musicians with the question, "What/who do you listen to for inspiration?". The honest answer is the for the past 25 years I don't listen to much music, and if I do, it's still primarily my heroes from the 70's and '80's. 

I draw most of my inspiration from literature, great films and largely science. My biggest creative inspiration for  composing these past ten years or so has been...science! Neil deGrasse Tyson is about as good as it gets. His method of inquiry, discovery, and penchant for conversation rather than hammering ideas down the throats of others is utterly refreshing. He has truly followed the legacy of Carl Sagan. So this is for Neil. 4% of the cosmos is what we currently know. The rest is dark energy and "Dark Matter"!!!

Dark Matter 090516

For this track I tried to envision themes inspired by one of my favorite contemporary pianists, Bruce Hornsby; not by merely copping some of his stylistic approaches to harmonic concepts, but striving more for that vibe that is a bit melancholy, yet joyful, or more accurately grateful about what each day might bring. For me, that is the groove and rhythm. It gives the sense of panoramic motion.

Desert Winter Song

Gerry and I recorded "The Habitable Zone" late night in my home studio in 2015. Rhodes, Minimoog and Roland XP-80 with Gerry on kit and perc. An atmospheric composition in 3/2. Enjoy!

The Habitable Zone

This is audio from a video fail. Such an incredible composition...

Skylark - Solo Piano

The past couple of years I've developed the habit of composing pieces of music as sanity breaks. Even if they are just ten or fifteen minutes. Well, that's lead to about 30 new compositions. Here's a sampling. While I was studying mathematics I became fascinated with the achievements of Archimedes. So, I wrote this about him...Enjoy!

Echoes Of Archimedes - Solo Piano

Here's another new composition I wrote during one of my breaks from studying. This one goes out to my good friend and fellow comic book enthusiast, Dmitri Matheny. I have performed with Dmitri for quite a few years now. We always have a gas together. Often he will introduce me to the audience as "mercurial" Nick Manson. I rather like that! Lol!

Mercurial By Nature - Solo Piano

I love medium tempo soul grooves pretty much more than most any other groove. Darell Holden sounds amazing singing this tune written by Marvin Hamlisch & Siedah Garrett, originally recorded by Roberta Flack nearly 30 years ago. She and Connye Florance provide incredible backing vocals together. The rest of the personnel is Mark Ivester- drums, Doug Barnett- bass, John Morton- guitar, and Andy Suzuki- tenor sax. This one can always make me smile no matter what type of day I have! I arranged and recorded this track in Nashville & Seattle...oh yeah, that's a Yamaha C7 grand piano layered with a Yamaha DX7 via a midi retrofit. Old school, Y'all...

All Caught Up In Love

I've written a few tunes in the past exploiting "backward rhythm changes". "Connections" is from my 2007 release, "Twin Springs", an autobiography about my life growing up in a tiny town in the Pacific Northwest in the 1970's. Mark Ivester on drums, Clipper Anderson on bass, and Andy Suzuki join me on Rhodes electric piano for this uptempo romp! Recorded & mixed by Michael Lord.

Connections

On the cusp of the first holidays as an orphan, I want to share this composition from my "Twin Springs" CD. This is the title cut. I wrote this as a gift to my parents for their 50th wedding anniversary in 1998. The cd cover depicts our family dogs, Ginger (left) and Blaze (right). Twin Springs was the name given to our home in the countryside of Snohomish, WA. We had a sign that hung over the entrance to our long, hilly driveway with the moniker inscribed. Large extended family gatherings were quite common during that era for holidays. Great memories from a bygone era...
This is a duo with me playing a Wurlitzer 200A electric piano and Andy Suzuki on Soprano sax. Enjoy!

Twin Springs (master)

Finally! I have all of my instrument plugins installed on my studio computer! For years I have envisioned using only my Spectrasonics VI's for my projects. With KEYSCAPE, that dream is a reality! This piece of music is dedicated to three of my heroes of synths and groove, George Duke, Jan Hammer, and Jeff Lorber! I sampled my Wurlitzer 200A for Spectrasonics as my last project, and it does not disappoint! This entire tune is composed using only KEYSCAPE, OMNISPHERE, Stylus RMX, and TRILLIAN!

George, Jan & Jeff

Recorded live at the MCC PAC in Mesa, AZ - April 17, 2018

MPJE Personnel:

Artistic Director & Keyboards - Nick Manson

Bass - Chad Cole

Drums - Sam Russo

Saxes/Woodwinds - Hughie Lovelady, Chris Campbell, Bryon Ruth, Mary Petrich, Paul Brewer

Trombones - Matt Lennex, John Wise, Chanson Peck, Jeff Martin

Trumpets - Dave Coolidge, James Kass, Rod Larkins, Rob Hunter, Glenn Butler

MPJE & Brice Winston - "Without A Song" - Arr. by Joe Henderson

Recorded and produced this arrangement in Seattle and Nashville a ways back. Can't recall the vocalist's name. Need to ask my publisher. Tower Of Power trumpet great, Mic Gillette provide the cool trumpet stuff. Andy Suzuki provided the flutes. What else is there to say that hasn't already been said about Joni Mitchell's songwriting. Sublime...

Edith And The Kingpin

Composed right after moving to Arizona. Recorded in Seattle in 2007 at Triad Studios by Tom Hall and mixed and re-mastered by me. Doug Barnett - bass, Mark Ivester - drums, Andy Suzuki - tenor sax, and me on piano.

Superstition Mountain

I don't remember the name of this tune. Andy Suzuki and I co-wrote and recorded it in late 1983 in Van Nuys, CA at John Lewis' recording studio behind his grandmother's house. This is a LO-FI recording. My buddy, Doug Anderson recorded this by recording my boom box with his boom box. 

Musicians:
Gerry Gibbs - Drums & Percussion
Lenny Kravitz - Bass & Electric Guitar
Andy Suzuki - Alto Sax
Larry Koonse - Jazz Guitar
Nick Manson - Rhodes, Korg Poly 6, Moog Multimoog

Lost Recording NM

Featuring me - Arrangement & Piano
Charlie Chadwick - Bass
Zoro - Drums
The Boys from Tower Of Power:
Larry Braggs - Vocal
Tommy Politzer - Tenor Sax
Jerry Cortez - Guitar

Since I Fell For You - Nick Manson with Larry Braggs

This is a re-harmonized arrangement I did as a side project in Nashville last summer. It came out slamming thanks to:
Marcus Finnie - Drums
Danny O'Lannerghty - Bass
Pat Bergeson - Guitar
Again, this was cut live in Studio A at Ocean Way, Nashville
Enjoy!

I Only Have Eyes For You

All my days are spent in my home studio teaching online, practicing, and doing production work during this saddest time in our recent human history so I composed and recorded this song last night in hopes that it might calm and inspire those listeners that are fraught with anxiety and worry due to Covid-19. My childhood buddy, drummer Gerry Gibbs, recently gave me the china cymbal that I had always dreamed of having as a gift. To me, this cymbal contains all the love Gerry has for his fellow human and it sparked the idea for a composition dedicated to healing. Combined with my machines, the cymbal and I Hope For Better Tomorrows after the storm has passed.

Hope For Better Tomorrows

This was a great night of music at the Kerr Center in Scottsdale, AZ on May 8th, 2017. The tune is one of jazz saxophone's greats, Jerry Bergonzi's many contrafacts based on Miles' Davis' "Solar"! We did one brief rehearsal (mostly eating Red Devil Pizza) the day before the performance. Dom, Chris, and I have developed a very beautiful musical rapport over the past decade and it is showcased nicely on this recording. Enjoy and stay well!!!

Bi-Solar

Recorded live in my home studio with Andy Suzuki while he was in Phoenix recording my next release for fall of 2013. We plan to record an entire cd of standards in this duo format in the near future. This version is an arrangement I developed a couple of years back. It's in 3/2 and has an extended form and some fun, hip re-harmonization's in just the right places. Enjoy and share!
~Nick

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