Michael Manring and Don Adams

Last night, I went to the Cedar Cultural Center with James and Jon Parshall to hear Michael Manring and Don Adams play. Wow. What a show! Manring upheld his reputation as an world-class bass player, and Don Adams, whom I had never heard before, was also a joy to listen to. Watching Manring play the songs Selene and Helios from his Soliloquoy album was as sight that no bass player should miss. He uses multiple tunings, changing tunings mid-song with a special bridge and extender keys at the head of the instrument. This is amazing to watch - if you didn't know what was going on, you'd think he'd broken his bass. He also uses an e-bow in some compositions, getting haunting sounds out of the instrument.

One of the highlights of the show was hearing them play together on a 12-bar blues number. During the course of the song (again - a basic 12-bar blues number), Manring changed the tuning of his bass at least twice. Frankly, I think Manring couldn't not change his tuning. He just couldn't not do it.

If you're a bass player or just like wonderful music that's outside the mainstream, and you respect the combination of musicianship and technical ability, you owe it to yourself to see him.