Roger Joseph Manning Jr. thrills in remarkable return at GRAMMY Museum

Roger Joseph Manning Jr. at the GRAMMY Museum
on Thursday, May 17, 2018. Photo: Robert Kinsler 

On Thursday night (May 17, 2018), acclaimed singer-songwriter-keyboardist Roger Joseph Manning Jr. headlined his first solo public performance in "a decade" at the GRAMMY Museum in Los Angeles. 

Scott Goldman, the executive director of the GRAMMY Museum, interviewed Manning as part of  "The Drop," an ongoing series of live events held in the museum's Clive Davis Theater. The conversation delved into everything from Manning's childhood and influences (jazz piano, XTC, Elton John, Talking Heads, Thomas Dolby, Leon Russell and many more) to his early career as the co-founder of Jellyfish and his ongoing musical relationship with Beck (as a member of that multi-Grammy winner's touring band and contributing musician on a number of albums dating back to 1998's Mutations) as well as a myriad of projects that have utilized his talents as keyboardist, vocalist and arranger.

"I've been fortunate to accompany people of all kinds and styles," Manning said. 

Indeed, Manning's far-flung contributions include performing on Glen Campbell's 2008 masterwork Meet Glen Campbell, Cheap Trick's 2009 The Latest, Neil Diamond's 12 Songs, Interpol's El Pintor and even contributing orchestral arrangements to Morrissey's latest album Low in High School.

But it was clear from Manning's discussion of his return with new music (as well as the reissue of his first two solo albums The Land of Pure Imagination and Catnip Dynamite) that he was excited to be on stage again performing his own material.

"Realizing my own ideas from start to end; there is nothing more fulfilling to me," said Manning, noting he writes on piano and guitar because the two different instruments lead his songwriting in very different directions and that diversity is important to him. 



Many of the musical ideas on Manning's albums stretch back many years before they are finally completed in the studio. 

"Beck calls it 'Simmering'," Manning noted.

After the interview concluded Manning and his stellar four-man band performed a four-song set of original material touching off his newly-issued EP Glamping (available now via PledgeMusic) his 2006 solo debut Land of Pure Imagination and even a Jellyfish classic.

The players opened with the enticing new track "Operator," the first track off Manning's new Glamping EP. With its melodic structure and textured musical arc, "Operator" captures the sheer pop craft of which Manning is a master. Rooted in the power pop and melodic rock of the 1960s and '70s, Manning's songs featured at the GRAMMY Museum displayed just how successfully he has been able to both capture and expand the musical traditions of that early rock era. 

The next track was the second selection off Glamping, the more driving "Funhouse," a song that reminds me of classic Squeeze enhanced by the dazzling and wonderfully dizzying vocal harmonies of Queen. 

Third up was the title track off The Land of Pure Imagination, an ambitious gem that features Manning's poignant vocals, psychedelic sensibilities, a high-flying chorus and a just-right dose of progressive rock. 

Manning definitely pumped up the adorning crowd with his shining version of the classic Jellyfish track "That Is Why" off his former band's groundbreaking 1990 debut Bellybutton. 

It was sheer joy to be able to see Manning's career and talents celebrated at the GRAMMY Museum last night. Let's hope another decade doesn't pass before he is on stage again playing his own music. And in the meantime, be sure to pick up a copy of Glamping and catch him playing along with Jason Falkner in Beck's terrific band.

Robert Kinsler