Visions (click to go to the CD Baby website)

Visions is a compilation of selected performances from the first 5 years of the EMIT series. More than half of the CD was recorded in the Salvador Dali Museum. The music ranges from experimental to electronic ambient to free jazz with the world's leading innovative artists.

In this CD you will hear Evan Parker, Sam Rivers, Pamela Z, Chris Brown, Phil Gelb, Amy Denio, Daniel Carter, Saturnalia, Day & Taxi, Eugene Chadbourne, Derek Bailey, Peter Kowald & SHIM. This is the only recording available of reed masters Sam Rivers and Evan Parker performing together.


"As an introduction to avant garde jazz or free improvisation, this is one the best on the market. But discard the labels and listen: There are some remarkably capable performers here who you may not hear again because their music is so hard to find. They transcend categories, and offer a real glimpse into a small, yet compelling underground world of solid musicianship." - Steven Loewy, AllAboutJazz

 Fluid Motion 
(click to go to the CD Baby website)

Avant-jazz with a balance of structure & freedom - groove & fluidity featuring jazz legend Sam Rivers.

Fluid motion serves both as a reminder of the presence of a lion in our midst and a promise of brilliant things to come from Manson and Powell. But it is the beautiful way that it all comes together that earns my vote for jazz record of the year." - Duck Baker, JazzTimes 1/03

"On a new recording by trombonist-composer David Manson, Fluid Motion, I heard, for the first time, 20-year old trumpeter Jonathan Powell. Powell's crackling range and electricity of his imagination reminded me of the first time that I heard Lee Morgan and Clifford Brown. I didn't think of Jonathan Powell as a category. His voice is his own, as is that of the always-contemporary 79-year old Sam Rivers, on the same date." - Nat Hentoff, JazzTimes, 4/03

"Fluid Motion manages a scintillating middle ground between post-bop structure and freedom. It rarely dissolves into random improvisation, but is instead a hard-swinging affair with plenty of spirited blowing by Rivers, Manson and young trumpet phenom Jonathan Powell. Rivers' rhythm section of drummer Anthony Cole and bassist Doug Mathews lend muscular backing. The CD's sound quality is exemplary, more deep and organic than most stuff released on bigger labels." - Eric Snider, Weekly Planet - "Best Jazz CD for 2002"

"Two Questions: Who are these guys? And what are they doing with Sam Rivers? Sorry for the New York-centric approach, but pressing the play button on this disc by Fluid Motion had me scrambling for the lineup. This quintet comes out kicking ass and I hadn't taken in any names. Except, of course for Sam Rivers, the seventy-something saxophonist, a pillar in the 1960's avant- movement and New York loft scene of the 70s. Maybe that's why this disc shocks. Rivers is the big name in this quintet, but he isn't the focus. Trombonist David Manson is, in that the quintet is playing all of his compositions. The band has drummer Anthony Cole and bassist Doug Mathews, two musicians familiar with Rivers from those RivBea Orchestra records and a hip trio session from 1996, Concept (RivBea). Manson adds trumpeter Jonathan Powell and there is something special happening here." - Mark Corroto, AllAboutJazz



available only through digital distribution...

You might like SHIM if you find the music of Ken Vandermark, Steve Lacy, Dave Douglas and Charles Mingus interesting.

SHIM was ensemble-in-residence with the EMIT series curated at the Salvador Dali Museufrom 1994-2000. The sextet began as an experimental improvisatory ensemble that performed at art galleries and mutated into an avant-jazz group combining compositional structure with improvisation. SHIM was given five "Best of the Bay” music awards by Weekly Planet Magazine and was featured on the JazzSouth radio series program #32. The instrumentation for SHIM was trumpet (Keith Hedger), saxophone (David Pate), clarinets (David Irwin), trombone (David Manson), bass (Matt Fagen & Doug Mathew) and drums (Jim Stewart).


“Some may head down to St. Petersburg, Florida in search of the fountain of youth, some may go looking for a surreal experience at the Salvador Dali Museum, but those looking for adventurous improvisation will surely be down there looking to hook up with the collective unit SHIM. Their first CD (11/98, p.117) was an informal, self produced affair that delivered impressive, original charts and a keen group approach to improvisation. This follow up, offers their take on nine more originals penned by trombonist Manson and trumpet player Hedger. The two have a knack for creating catchy themes with quirky meters, providing some basic compositional structure, and then letting the band loose. They make effective use of the two reeds, two brass, two basses, and drums, creating rich arrangements that open up for extensive solo space for all. It helps having an ensemble full of distinctive players. This release is yet further proof that there is plenty of exciting improvising happening these days, in every corner of the country. And clearly, St. Petersburg, Florida has some stellar proponents.” - Michael Rosenstein, Cadence

 Beast 
(click to go to the CD Baby website)


Featuring the director of the EMIT series, Beast is experimental music for trombone & electronics by living composers... weird & beautiful sounds for trombone.

"Manson is a multi-dimensional musician. He expands the musical framework for the trombone and produces challenging sounds in the process. His thought processes run deep, resulting in music with stimulating and logically flowing characteristics built into brawny trombone execution." - Frank Rubolino, Cadence

"Working in more experimental vein, and pushing the boundaries of trombone virtuosity into unexpected directions, Manson has filled this release with a variety of settings for his instrument... Suffice to say the trombone is alive and well, and conspiring with other renegade spirits to form a bestiary of intriguing and kaleidoscopic sound collages." - Marino Guida, Tangents

 Infinita Bossa (click to go to the CD Baby website)


Real Brazilian bossa nova, samba-jazz and MPB in Portuguese - a classic-style session (from 2008) with a 1960s sound & style.  EMIT celebrates the 50th anniversary of bossa nova with this timeless CD.

"Andrea Moraes Manson's vocals have more of a jazz inflection that emanates a sun-baked tangible vibe in stark opposition to the conventional airy and ethereal voice associated with female bossa sirens. The arrangements, on the other hand, are in keeping with tradition, subtle in striking just the right balance between vocals and instrumentation -- that quintessentially Carioca sway that's been nurtured since the birth of bossa 50 years ago this year. Not to be overlooked are the able musicians who participated in the recording. Roberto Bertone (drums), Ademar Fonseca (bass), Régis Moreira (keyboards), Jeremy Powell (sax), John Ward (flute), and the Alfredo Rivero, who's beautifully nuanced guitar work kept the cadence in check. O Som Do Jazz does bossa nova the right way without getting lost in musical clichés." - Lissette Corsa, Global Groove Connection (June 2008)

"A really classic-styled session of Brazilian jazz vocals --of the sort that takes us back to late 60s work by singers like Elis Regina or Leny Andrade! The instrumentation is quite warm and all acoustic -- jazzy flute, sax, guitar, keyboards, and trombone. Andrea Moraes Manson sings lead vocals on the set -- with a quality that's light, but never thin or too airy -- just the right sort of 60s bossa mode to please our ears, and a style that few American recordings ever get right! Production is great too, with just the right balance of warmth to remind us of the old days -- and none of the too-bright or too-clear tones that can sometimes mar a modern bossa effort." - Dusty Groove