Meet Jesse Manno | Composer-Musician-Improvisor

We had the good fortune of connecting with Jesse Manno and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jesse, what is the most important factor behind your success?
As a composer/improvisor of music, there is no singular factor that is most important, but my stylistic versatility and multi-instrumentalist ability both play a large role, because they make everything simpler and faster to create. Someone commissioning an evening length work can get all the multiple styles of music needed out of one human. Or in the corner playing for a dance class or show, I can be a one man band without (or with) help from the computer, depending on the mood/need. Kick drum, Ankle bells, left hand accordion chords, vocal melody, and hand drum is one combination. Another factor is my curiosity and adaptability, which helps in the creative process. I’m always open to trying new and different approaches, and am naturally inclined to help others. I sometimes create more or less opportunities for myself as a result, as in refusing a Black History Month gig offer and recommending an actual Black artist I know instead (Denver’s Koffi Toudji), because that’s Doin the right thing (Thank you Spike Lee). Or sometimes I’m halfway into completing something and will change my approach on a lark, effectively wasting the time spent on the first round, maybe losing some sleep, but making the music support the visual media as best as possible. I can read music (slowly and rarely) but I prefer to read dance to make the music.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I am very much a lover and student of music from elsewhere, especially Middle Eastern and Balkan music (which I perform with the band Sherefe among others), but also West African, Indonesian, and Indian music. Whole pieces of my music career pie are cut in very specific folk traditions, with love. And then there is the Dance/Theatre/Film/Circus Art/Special event side of my work. I have been lucky to have been commissioned to create a lot of original scores. This happened almost entirely by word of mouth, or rather, by others seeing/hearing the work and then asking me to do a project with them. It seems somewhat unusual to have no personal goals or ambition. I once did (to be a rock star), but that quickly evaporated upon studying Buddhism in college. Instead, I am excited about PROJECTS. Things that are ephemeral, and they have led to others.
I just do whatever comes along that feels right enough to do, but it is always motivated by others. I help other people manifest their visions. I probably said yes a few too many times in my 20s and 30s and am more careful now. I’m excited every time I get to create music, whether improvisational only for the moment, or in a carefully crafted way for a specific performance or recording. Both are exhilarating. I think because I don’t have burning desires and goals about my future, I am able to really be in the moment of collaboration and creation, and so yes, it has mostly been easy. There is very little disappointment. The only downside of this approach is that my work is not very available to people beyond the immediate sphere of performances that I contribute to, because I’m too busy making new stuff to market the old, but not fancy enough to have an agent or record label. I’m finally starting to change that, with doing some remastering and eventually releasing of multiple albums on multiple platforms in the next year or so, I hope!

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I live near Boulder simply because I’ve gone to school or worked there since 1988. I try to take them to a performance at CU Theatre and Dance, The Dairy Center For the Arts, BMOCA, St. Julien hotel or possibly Naropa. In Denver I would look into events at the Mercury Cafe and the Bug Theatre. For food/drink I mostly cook at home, but might take them to Apertivo, Chez Thuy, China Gourmet, Dagabi Cucina, or definitely The Taj in Boulder. The closest most beautiful hot spring is Desert Reef in Florence, CO, but watch out for their anti single male stance. I like to hike the Goat trail in North Boulder.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
YES absolutely a shout out to my parents, Jack and Sarah Manno, who allowed all sorts of dreadful noise in the house as I was a teenager; heavy metal drums and guitar. They several times let two other drummers set up with me in the living room for hours of three drummers going at it. From a very young age they also dragged me to all kinds of rehearsals and performances- John Cage, The Talking Heads, Frank Zappa, Meredith Monk, Ali Akbar Khan, and many dance companies. I appreciate how my ex wife Tambre Rasmussen, current wife Lulu Delphine, and my kids navigate the strange needs of the musical life. A shout out to Pat Burge my childhood piano/improvisation teacher, who tended to the fires I wanted to burn (composing and improvising) instead of only trying to get me to read music and have good technique. Brian Parsonnet and Diane Montgomery, who broadened my horizons to Balkan and Middle Eastern Music, and so many mentors Greek, Turkish, and Arabic to this day. The dear musical collaborators who play instruments I can’t: Ty Burhoe, James Hoskins, Beth Quist, and others. Mentors in wild sound Mike Vargas and Farrell Lowe and Vickie Dodd. And the hundreds of people/companies/Festivals who have offered me creative opportunity and employment, especially the CU Dance Program, Colorado Dance Festival (rip), and the Bates Dance Festival. Turning The Wheel, Inc. (Alana Shaw) and Sacred Mysteries, LLC (Sharron Rose) have really given me a lot of opportunities to create. So many grants have been written to hire me to create, and for that I am very grateful.

Website: https://jessemannomusic.com

Instagram: @jessemanno

Image Credits
Lulu Delphine, Sheldon Sands, Jonathan Hsu