A talented jazz pianist and keyboardist, the two time
Emmy Award winning multifaceted Nick Manson is also a
composer, arranger and producer who has excelled in
several fields. His piano playing is swinging,
lyrical, consistently inventive, and quite individual.
Throughout his career, Nick's performances are both accessible
and creative, appealing to a wide audience yet
remaining true to himself.
Born and raised in the Seattle area, Nick remembers
his early years. "My grandfather was a classical
pianist so I heard classical music early on. When I
was ten I switched from a home organ which I hated to
the piano, having nine years of classical piano
lessons. I first heard jazz when I was in the seventh
grade and enjoyed seeing the high school stage band. I
was really into big bands and that is how I got into
jazz, listening to the music of Clare Fischer, Buddy Rich, Count
Basie and Duke Ellington. I was also inspired by the
Beatles and Elton John to want to make my own music."
While in high school, Nick attended the Stan Kenton
clinics, developing his skills as a composer and an
arranger, writing his first big band arrangements at 14 years of age. He competed at all-state festivals in
Washington and remembers his piano teacher giving him
a copy of Chick Corea's Light As A Feather which made
a strong impression. He also picked up some very
valuable playing experience in an unusual way. "My
parents had a restaurant. When I was a sophomore in
high school, they would hire all of the top local
jazzmen from the Northwest with the condition that
they would let me play piano. So I had a chance to
gig three nights a week as a teenager. It was an
invaluable learning experience."
After high school, Nick Manson attended, on scholarship, the Berklee
College Of Music. He was inspired and influenced
greatly by Dave Mash and George Garzone in
composition, arranging and improvisation. When he was
19 he moved to Los Angeles where he played with Lenny
Kravitz's first band and attended the Dick Grove
School. He became adept at using MIDI and electronics,
and was one of the first to play, in concert, Yamaha's prototype of
the DX7.
After moving back to Seattle, Nick became very busy
doing production work while also playing jazz and
creating music in a variety of settings. During his
periods in Seattle and back in Los Angeles for a
decade, he was quite productive, producing, arranging
and performing music on CDs and for films, television
and commercials. He won two Emmy Awards for his work
on the children's television show "How 'Bout That", for
best piece of music in a musical segment and for best
musical production in a half-hour television show. He
arranged thousands of titles for the Muzak
corporation and currently has original music playing
internationally on Muzak, DMX and Spafax. For much of
a decade, Nick was a major player in the development
and design of Atmosphere, Stylus, Trilogy and Stylus
RMX for Spectrasonics virtual instrument plug-ins. He
has owned and operated his own recording studio for
the past 20 years and runs his own CD label, Manasus
Music.
Nick has been a guest lecturer and clinician at
many schools (including USC, the Los Angeles Music
Academy, Iolani School in Honolulu, Bremerton
Community College, ASU, Arizona Western College, Northwestern Michigan College and Edmonds Community College) and
he developed and taught the music theory program for audio majors at the Art Institute of Seattle
in the early 1990s. Currently Nick is a professor at Mesa Community College (Mesa, AZ) in the Jazz Studies program,
teaching jazz composition, arranging, playing ensembles and music business courses.
Nick has often been a favorite featured artist on Jim Wilke's "Jazz in the Northwest" (KPLU), Don Gordon's Show (KIPO) and Blaise Lantana's 9 O'clock Speciall (KJZZ).
Of additional interest; Nick's trios and
quartets have performed dozens of times for
Microsoft's functions as well as Bill Gates'
wedding and 20th high school reunion.
Even during his busiest periods working in commercial
music, Nick composed, recorded and performed jazz. Everywhere from the Kennedy Center to the Concord
Jazz Festival, Jazz Port Townsend, The Telluride Jazz Festival, The Paradise Valley Jazz Party, The Baked Potato, Vibrato Grill, The Jazz Bakery and Seattle's Jazz Alley, also touring
in Europe, South American and Asia. He co-wrote the
gospel standard "Jesus, Mighty Fortress" with Terry
Clark and Roby Duke.
"Every time I play, I want
to sound like myself and add to the legacy of improvised
music. That is my main goal; to sound like who I am as
a person and to play music that both challenges me and
that people will enjoy."
Nick has recorded and/or performed with many jazz, pop, gospel artists and renown studio musicians including:
| Christopher Cross |
| Deniece Williams |
| John Patitucci |
| B.B. King |
| Lenny Kravitz |
| Ernestine Anderson |
| Bud Shank |
| Jeff Kashiwa (The Rippingtons) |
| Andy Suzuki |
| Dean Taba |
| Kendall Kay |
| Steve Huffsteter |
| Ian Froman |
| Plas Johnson |
| Bill Perkins |
| Kim Richmond Concert Jazz Orchestra |
| Chuck Manning |
| The Nairobi Trio |
| DMQ |
| Robert Kyle |
| James Gadson |
| Al McKay (Earth, Wind & Fire) |
| Will Calhoun (Living Color) |
| Diana Krall |
| Ernie Watts |
| Bennie Maupin |
| John Guerin |
| Jay Thomas |
| Ralph Humphrey |
| Steve Ferrone |
| Don Lanphere |
| Gerry Gibbs |
| Clint Holmes |
| Alphonze Mouzon |
| Tom Brechtline |
| Roby Duke |
| Terry Clark |
| The Katinas |
| Zoro (The Drummer) |
| Darren Motamedy |
| Tim Noah |
| Jackie Ryan |
| Brice Winston |
| Eddie Daniels |
| Joe Magnarelli |
| Doug Webb |
| Greta Matassa |
| Gary Foster |
| Bruce Conte (TOP) |
| Tom E. Politzer (TOP) |
| Jerry Cortez (TOP) |
| Roger Smith (TOP) |
| Mike Crotty |
| Brian Lynch |
| Jack Jones |
| Tommy Dorsey Orchestra |
| Eric Rasmussen |
| Jeremy Pelt |
| John Stowell |
| Fred Forney |
| Scott Whitfield |
| Dennis Rowland |
| Margo Reed |
| Lucas Pino |
| Dmitri Matheny |
| Mike Barone Big Band |
| Warren Vaché |
| Bruce Forman |
| Brad Rabuchin |
| Bob Mintzer |