Page 232 - FINAL_Guildhall Media Highlights 2019-2020 Coverage Book

“I was in a pop/rock band playing ukulele and writing sad songs with four chords,” he
says. “I was in a choir in first year – I had a high voice and had to sing with the
sopranos. The school had a fantastic, dedicated music department and there was

always an outlet for music.”

At home, Manning’s listening tastes were much influenced by his mother who raised
him and his older sister by herself. “Mum, who of course is now into jazz, always
liked amazing voices – Sinead O’Connor, Jimmy Sommerville, people like that. Great

singers with big voices. I went through a lot of phases but the constants were Amy
Winehouse (who I think Anita liked first!), Stevie Wonder and soul music. I bought
my first album with my mum in Fopp on Byres Road. It was Bjork – Debut and my

mum said: ‘If you don’t get it, I’ll get it!’ I think I was 14 at the time.”

Meanwhile, Manning was taking piano lessons, having given up on guitar, and was
encouraged by his piano teacher to sing. “I was actually champing at the bit to get

singing lessons but I didn’t get any until my voice had broken”.

When Manning was 16 years old, his school suggested he sign up for the weekly jazz
workshops run by the Strathclyde Youth Jazz Orchestra. One of his tutors there was
the pianist Alan Benzie, and when the course ended, Manning was desperate to

continue learning, so Benzie took him on as a student. It was he who helped the
youngster with auditions and prescribed listening material for him. “Until I did the
SYJO classes, I knew very little about jazz and didn’t really know what I was getting

into,” says Manning. “But the more I immersed myself in the music – the more I loved
it.”

Among Manning’s early favourites was the iconic Chet Baker, whose eponymous
1959 album he will be celebrating at The Blue Arrow in Glasgow next month, as part

of the club’s 59:60 series of homages to classic albums from that pivotal year in jazz.

“I instantly fell in love with Chet, both his singing and his trumpet playing,” explains
Manning. "I love that melancholy fragility and vulnerability; I have an emotional

connection to Chet. Crooners never resonated as much with me as much. Mark
Murphy’s later records are in the same vein as Chet’s – it’s a different style but he’s
not afraid to stick his neck out, be himself, take risks. I also love Amy Winehouse – in

fact, I think I got into her because my gran Anita was always playing her records.”