After 35 years with the St. Pete College Dept. of Music, David R. Manson will retire this summer to devote all of his time and talent to composing and arranging, and leading the city’s only big band, the Helios Jazz Orchestra.
A trombonist by trade, Manson has been in academia since 1984 (he taught music at Indiana State University before signing on the dotted line with SPC). Through his organization EMIT, he has been involved in producing, presenting (and performing) various forms of music, some of it experimental, in St. Pete for several decades.
He also plays original Brazilian music in his band O Som do Jazz. And he created and curates the annual St. Petersburg Jazz Festival.
“It’s been one and a half, two jobs for the past 30 years at least,” Manson reflects. “So I’m looking forward to a little slowing down of the pace.”…