Featured in "50 Stories for 50 Years", a retrospective of 50 years of arts individual and organization by the Florida Department of State and Division of Cultural Arts

Two local jazz linchpins discuss their love of music and the local scene, Creative Pinellas -
https://creativepinellas.org/on-this-magnetic-field-called-jazz/

We gotcher jazz right here: St. Pete jazz festival founder David Manson talks shop, Creative Loafing - https://www.cltampa.com/music/local/article/20992588/before-10th-annual-st-pete-jazz-festival-founder-david-manson-talks-shop

Busy at the Palladium With David Manson, Creative Pinellas - https://creativepinellas.org/magazine-items/busy-at-the-palladium-with-david-manson/?portfolioCats=687%2C688%2C689%2C690%2C686%2C6%2C692%2C693%2C5%2C684%2C685%2C766%2C694&fbclid=IwAR0kc0tAms4CoaAv6ffJFXcT6UZO_EnSLnMvy9fjgxr3xU2yU25kR4NJD3c

recordings

A Kiss for Rio

"David Manson is one of the most versatile musicians around. A trombonist, he has played in the orchestras of touring shows at performing arts centers in the area. A well-traveled symphony player, he sat in with the Florida Orchestra on numerous occasions. As a jazz man, he was a member of a free-bop group called Shim, and he has presented many avant-garde groups in the past 18 years through his concert series Emit. He was in the brass section and did arrangements for the Frank Zappa tribute band Bogus Pomp.

Now Manson is into Brazilian music with his crack seven-piece band called O Som Do Jazz, featuring his Rio de Janeiro-born wife, Andrea Moraes Manson, on vocals. They have a sparkling new CD out, A Kiss for Rio, that will be introduced Thursday at a concert in St. Petersburg." - John Fleming, TBT

Beast

"Manson's adroit and inspiring performance is combined with fascinating and stimulating compositions. The result is a refreshingly "out of the ordinary" audio project." - Kevin Chiarizzio, International Trombone Association Journal

"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." - FrankRubolino, Cadence

"Manson is not only adept at handling the complexities of a score, though; he's also a gifted improvisor, as the four and a half minute tussle with guitarist Davey Williams, "All Clear Now", amply reveals... As for the trombone, David Manson's work is clear proof that there's life in that beast yet. Check it out. - Dan Warburton, Paris Transatlantic Magazine

"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

"Manson, an academic who has recorded impressively with tenor saxophonist Sam Rivers, proves here that he can have fun while exhibiting his virtuosity." - Ken Waxman, Jazz Weekly

Fluid Motion

“Manson’s compositions walk the line between post-bop and free with the intensity centered in the groove. Certainly you can compare this band to both Roy Campbell's projects and the Vandermark 5... Manson does everything right.” – Mark Corroto, All About Jazz

“Manson did contribute all eight compositions and his trombone is a dominant factor, but this music, which contains haunting melodies and exciting playing throughout, is very much a group effort…They display the type of responsiveness that only occurs when players are able to read and anticipate the others intuitively.” – Frank Rubalino, One Final Note

“Trombonist David Manson has fashioned an extraordinary array of compositions for this quintet, featuring the great saxophonist Sam Rivers... At times, the band purveys a 60s style “Blue Note Records,” sound! But, the thrust of this outing is founded upon bouncy rhythmic structures to coincide with the artists’ expressive unison choruses. Consequently, the title Fluid Motion, denotes just one of the many notable attributes witnessed on this incontestably superb effort! (Zealously recommended…)” – Glenn Astarita, All About Jazz

“In a perfect world where creative music is equally disseminated regardless of marketing muscle or name brand recognition, Fluid Motion, the debut disc by David Manson and his Tampa, Florida collective, would have popped up on many year end Critic’s Picks lists. The self-released disc on Manson’s Isospin Labs label is one of the standout musical surprises of the latter half of 2002. Not only does the disc feature new work by Sam Rivers, but allows the legendary saxophone iconoclast to share space with a new crop of hungry young players.” - Bill Smith, JazzReview 4/03

Visions

“Trombonist David Manson shuns his instrument and concentrates on computer generated sounds on his short solo exercise into unmarked territory. He samples female voice and verbal utterances and mixes them with electronic tones and static on a very unusual offering… Manson returns, this time on trombone, but he still uses electronics in conjunction with the electric guitar playing of Davey Williams. – Frank Rubalino, One Final Note

Particle Zoo

"Manson has a suave, smooth edge. Yet he can also dig into a gutbucket growl, sliding across the melodies with limber gritty energy." - Michael Rosenstein, Cadence

BONK festival

“Another impressive performance was by trombonist David Manson, an indefatigable champion of the avante-garde.” John Fleming – St. Petersburg Times