Michael Manring

Drawing influence from his instructor Jaco Pastorius, Manring has pushed the electric bass into unexplored realms. Growing up in the Washington, DC, region, he performed classical bass parts with high school chamber ensembles and orchestras at the same time he gigged with area Top 40 groups. Between 1979 and 1982 he sharpened his skills in the DC fusion outfit Natural Bridge while simultaneously beginning a collaboration with guitarist Michael Hedges. He appeared on Hedges’s first Windham Hill release, Breakfast in the Fields. Thereafter the bassist served as Windham Hill’s primary session player, contributing to recordings by Will Ackerman, Ira Stein, and Russel Walder while maintaining regular road work alongside Hedges. He also holds a central role in the label’s all-star ensemble, Montreux.