Michael Manring

In search of a new season to conquer (after a long run of successful A Winter's Solstice recordings), Windham Hill took aim at summer in 1997. The first Summer Solstice disc isn't exactly top-down cruising music; it's more of a back-porch soundtrack suitable for watching fireflies or for mulling the fading light of a languid summer's day. A few pieces (violinist Tracy Silverman's take on Vivaldi; pianist Liz Story's "The Promise") feel a bit weighty for the theme here, but the disc is well stocked with compensatory highlights. Among them are the intelligent, softly propulsive melody strung together by Paul McCandless (oboe) and bassist Michael Manring ("In Our Jasmine Days"); David Arkenstone's twinkling, mandolin-centered dance in the sun ("Companions"); some classic Will Ackerman ("Incondizionatamente") on parlor guitar; a charming, slowly unfolding melody found in "Summer Star" by harpist Lisa Lynne; Story's lovely, ruminating "Out of Time"; a sunny frolic on harmonica by George Winston; and a hushed, jazz-inclined medley of Beach Boys tunes by pianist Philip Aaberg and guitarist Scott Mathews. –Terry Wood

Scott Amendola is an American drummer from the San Francisco Bay Area.

The making of this album, the successor to the first Fractal Guitar album, has been quite an adventure during quite a unique time in history. The journey started (although I didn’t know it at the time) on November 2, 2019 in Oakland, California, when Henry, Chris, Andy and I were recording tracks at MegaSonic studio. When I returned to Zürich, the world as we knew it soon changed drastically due to the quickly spreading Coronavirus. While it was a time to rethink the values that had governed our lives, it was also (thanks to the wonders of the internet) a disguised opportunity to record an album in lockdown.

As with the first Fractal Guitar album, I owe a great deal to all the fantastic musicians who play on this album, this time especially to Jon, Barry, Andi and Markus. Special thanks to Tim Motzer, Michael Manring and Bill Laswell, who were all part of this project, but only appear on "Fractal Guitar 2 Remixes", a companion album also soon available on this Bandcamp channel. Further thanks to my friend Anil Prasad, who introduced me to at least half the musicians on this album, to the Muir family for their generous hospitality at a time when traveling was still possible and to Leonardo "Moonjune" Pavkovic for continuous and unwavering support.

Wayfarer Records is proud to announce the release of the genre bending project Short Stories by award-winning composer Ambiente Solstice (JJ Rey). Short Stories is destined to be an incredibly enjoyable listening experience that transcends a myriad of musical styles.

16 legendary and international bassists together on same album. Amazing bass solos, grooves and performances.
JAZZ, GROOVE, FUNK, FUSION and much more !