Exposé Online banner

Exposé Online

Not just outside the box, but denying the existence of boxes.
Covering music from the fringes since 1993.

Reviews

Alberto Rigoni & Michael Manring — Grains of Sand
(Bandcamp no#, 2022, CD / MC / DL)

by Jon Davis, Published 2024-04-27

Grains of Sand Cover art

This one’s a little bit of catch-up from an older release that we haven’t covered yet. Usually, one bass player is enough for a band, but on Grains of Sand, two masters of the low end have gotten together to produce some stellar instrumental music. Since his debut back in the 80s, Michael Manring has been one of the world’s foremost bassists, particularly known for his dextrous and melodic fretless work; Alberto Rigoni is by comparison a newcomer, with a recorded output that goes back less than twenty years, but he’s no slouch in the technical or artistic departments. Not content at just featuring their own bass talents, the duo have enlisted guests Billy Sheehan, Michael LePond (Symphony X and many more), Lars Lehman (Ignore the Sign), Adam Nitti (lots of session work), Bryan Beller (The Aristocrats and many more), and Stuart Hamm for one track each, making this a veritable festival of modern bass playing. The tunes are arranged to use basses for both melodies and chording as well as the bottom end, so the only other instrument involved is the drum kit of Mark Zonder (Fates Warning, etc.). I’m not going to engage in any speculation as to who plays exactly what — I’ll only say that it’s all tasty and refreshingly free of blatant spotlight-hogging. The lack of guitar or keyboards allows the upper register of the bass to shine, which provides a nice change from the kinds of tones you usually hear. The music walks a path between the streams of jazz and rock, sometimes leaning towards one side, then back to the other. But most importantly, Grains of Sand is fun to listen to, with good melodies and interesting changes that make it more than just a master class in bass technique or a musical oddity.

Filed under: New releases, 2022 releases

Related artist(s): Michael Manring, Bryan Beller, Alberto Rigoni, Stuart Hamm

More info
http://albertorigoni.bandcamp.com/album/grains-of-sand

 

What's new

These are the most recent changes made to artists, releases, and articles.