“I think for any sideman, there always comes a time when you hear your own voice and you want to do your own thing.”

Not too long ago I went to a Mindi Abair concert.  Mindi had her usual band with her, except for the keyboard player.  The new guy was subbing for Rodney Lee, who was on paternity leave.  He was introduced to the crowd as Greg Manning, and we were told that we’d be blown away with his playing.  That was an understatement.  I decided to find out more about him through others in the band.  The more I learned, the more I was intrigued.  So, now I present to you, keyboardist Greg Manning.

Of late, we have brought you many side musicians from the Windy City – Chicago.  This beginning can’t get further from there.  Born in Nigeria, in a city called Port Harcourt, Greg Manning and his family moved to Switzerland when he was just six months old.  “My Mom is Swiss, so it was a good place for us to go since there was a war going on in Nigeria.”  Greg was given a foundation of music early on through his parents’ love of jazz, although neither were musicians.  “The music they listened to influenced me a lot, especially my Dad, who always bought American jazz records.  That’s what we listened to.”  Although the music was always around him, Greg didn’t start playing keyboards until he was almost 12 years old.  “So many musicians start at age four or five, but funny thing is that I was never really interested in music.  My classmates in school all had favorite bands, favorite singers, but not me.”  Then something happened that changed Greg’s future forever.  His name was Stevie Wonder.  “I know it sounds crazy, but one night I listened to the Stevie Wonder song, “Isn’t She Lovely” and that changed my life.  I was so intrigued by what I heard.  That was really the start of my love of music.”

Greg was mostly self taught on keyboards and would listen to a lot of records and basically just imitate them.    He did take some classical piano lessons, but not for very long.  When it was time to consider college, Greg turned his sights to the prestigious Berklee College of Music.  To give you an idea of the interesting life he led, to pay for his own college education, Greg worked as a seasonal flight attendant during the summers.  It was at Berklee, he says, that he learned all the music terms and how musicians communicate with each other.  It was also at Berklee that he met Mindi Abair and when Greg’s break came along.  “I was a student at Berklee.  And while I was there, I got a phone call out of the blue from a famous comedian from Switzerland who asked if I wanted to write a musical.  I thought he was kidding.  But one week later he was actually at my doorstep in Boston and we started writing a musical.  It started out very small in a village in Switzerland, but then began growing.  I ended up going on tour with the musical for almost three years.  We even toured Germany.  It was a very small thing that just grew into a very big thing.  After that, even though I loved Switzerland, it’s a very small country.  Even the music scene is very small.  Everyone used to tell me that my music was too American, so after a while I believed them and moved to Atlanta where I had some friends from Berklee.  I reconnected with Mindi when I was first the keyboardist and then musical director for Jonathan Butler, and Mindi played with him also.”

Greg toured for quite some time with Jonathan, but has played with a lot of others.  “I used to have a TV band in Switzerland and a lot of people came through to perform on the show like David Hasselhoff and ‘N Sync.  When I came to the States in 1997, I played with Brian McKnight, and then Mindi Abair, Kirk Whalum, Will Downing, and Gerald Albright.  But my dream job would be to work with Stevie Wonder.”

At this point in his career, Greg, now a husband and father to his six year-old son, has chosen to only do the occasional touring.  “I miss touring with Jonathan and others, but made a conscious decision after my son was born to try and stay off the road.”  So, what does that mean for his career?  Well, Greg said that things were tough for a while, but then through a mutual friend, he was introduced to Jan Stevens, a TV music composer most noted for the television shows Scrubs and Samantha Who?  Now, Greg is an assistant to Jan and has his own studio so he is able to work from home and spend time with his family, instead of on tour buses and airplanes.  Having his studio also allows him to work on his first solo project.  “I think for any sideman, there always comes a time when you hear your own voice and you want to do your own thing.  Working in TV, I always have to write for the picture, so that kind of fired up my mind to write my own thing.”  Greg hopes that this project will be completed for next spring.  But in addition to the TV work and his solo work, Greg also finds time to be the musical director for Swiss Idol.  The show is beginning its fourth season and the first with a full, live band.  Greg noted that this is the most successful show ever in Switzerland, and is just as big a phenomenon as it is in the United States.

When talking about the music business and up and coming musicians, Greg says just don’t cut corners.  “Nowadays it’s easy to take shortcuts, to get a computer program and say “Now I’m a musician.”  There is no way around learning the basics.  You need to really learn your instrument and as an arranger, you need to study other instruments.  To me, the real deal is still real musicians playing their instruments.  It’s important for young musicians to keep practicing and have broad exposure.  Play classical, opera, hip-hop, country, etc.  When I was younger I was kind of a snob.  I listened to jazz or Stevie Wonder.  I didn’t listen to any rock music and sometimes which I did.  I do now, but my favorite remains jazz.”

In the extra time Greg has created by no longer being out on the road, he can be usually be found in a park playing with his son, or reading most everything, especially books on philosophy or religion.  So, listen carefully and read the credits on your favorite TV shows.  You may be listening to the music of Greg Manning.