A continuation of the best musician thread

I never heard of him, but I went to youtube, and yes, he's very good. Personally, I'd like to see someone with his talent as a hired gun with a band that has a vocalist, and additional songwriters. Nice as it is, that kind of music can have a bit of sameness after a while.

Thanks for the heads-up.

I appreciate the comment. There are many instrumental bands which do not contain vocalists. I was a vocalist myself in my youth, and appreciate vocalists as much as anyone. I am a fusion guy, and bands like Return to Forever did not have a vocalist. Lots of jazz players, too; Miles Davis, as an example. Just as we all are different with the stereo gear we enjoy....the same goes with the musical content we enjoy listening to. Mancuso is part of a trio, and appears with a band named  Drift-Lab. YMMV. Enjoy ! MrD.

I checked out a few things of his on YouTube. Very talented young player. There is an up-beat freshness in his playing that I like, even though there isn’t much that is particularly new in his music. Plenty of chops. He and his band sound best on the stuff that is unabashedly fusion-y. I like their material. Not nearly as adventurous as bands like Return to Forever, but not cheesy like a lot of the lighter fusion stuff is. On the stuff that leans more to straight ahead Jazz, not so great. There, the inevitable comparison is to great Jazz players and it’s not close. My sense is that he would grow a lot as a player with top notch band mates.