Hailed by many as the world’s leading solo bassist, Michael Manring has been pushing back the boundaries of what’s possible on the bass guitar for over two decades. A student of bass legend Jaco Pastorius, Michael has honed his skills on hundreds of recordings and thousands of live shows around the world, working with a diverse collection of artists including the late guitar genius Michael Hedges, New Age keyboardist Suzanne Ciani, avant-improv guitar innovator Henry Kaiser, celebrated folk troubadour John Gorka, experimental post-metal rockers Tim Alexander (Primus) and Alex Skolnick (Testament) and electro-pop pioneer Thomas Dolby. He has earned two gold records, Grammy and Bammie nominations, a Berklee School of Music Distinguished Alumni Award, two Just Plain Folks Awards and numerous Bass Player Magazine Reader's Poll awards including 1994 Bassist of the Year. He currently focuses his energies on his innovative solo concerts where he displays the expressive skills that led The San Jose Mercury News to call him "...a virtuoso electric bassist who's almost single-handedly re-defined the outer limits of the instrument" and The Philadelphia Inquirer to refer to him as simply "...the hottest bassist today."