Michael Formanek

Michael Formanek (born May 7, 1958) is an American jazz bassist born in San Francisco, California, United States, and associated with the jazz scene in New York.

Formanek was the director of the Peabody Jazz Orchestra and the jazz bass instructor at the Peabody Conservatory of Music in Baltimore, Maryland, before his amicable departure in 2018.

Discography As leader Wide Open Spaces (Enja, 1990) Extended Animation (Enja, 1992) Loose Cannon (Soul Note, 1993) Low Profile (Enja, 1994) Nature of the Beast (Enja, 1996) Ornery People with Tim Berne (Little Brother, 1998) Am I Bothering You? (Screwgun, 1999) Relativity (Enja, 1999) The Rub and Spare Change (ECM, 2010) with Craig Taborn, Tim Berne and Gerald Cleaver Small Places (ECM, 2012) with Craig Taborn, Tim Berne and Gerald Cleaver The Distance (ECM, 2016) with Ensemble Kolossus Time Like This (Intakt, 2018) with Elusion Quartet Even Better (Intakt, 2019) with Very Practical Trio Pre-Apocalyptic (Out Of Your Head, 2020) Dyads (Out Of Your Head, 2021) with Peter Formanek Imperfect Measures (Intakt, 2021) Were We Where We Were (Circular File Records, 2022) with Drome Trio Other Zones (Circular File Records, 2022) As Things Do (Intakt, 2023) with Elusion Quartet New Digs (Intakt, 2026)

With and Mary Halvorson as Thumbscrew Thumbscrew (Cuneiform, 2014) Convallaria (Cuneiform, 2016) Theirs (Cuneiform, 2018) Ours (Cuneiform, 2018) The Anthony Braxton Project (Cuneiform, 2020) Never is Enough (Cuneiform, 2021) Multicolored Midnight (Cuneiform, 2022) Wingbeats (Cuneiform, 2024)

With Franco Ambrosetti Movies (Enja, 1987) Movies Too (Enja, 1988)

With Chet Baker Burnin' at Backstreet (Fresh Sound)

With Tim Berne Lowlife: The Paris Concert (JMT, 1995) Poisoned Minds: The Paris Concert (JMT, 1995) Memory Select: The Paris Concert (JMT, 1995) Unwound (Screwgun, 1996) Saturation Point (Screwgun, 1997) Discretion (Screwgun, 1997) Seconds (Screwgun, 2007) Insomnia (Clean Feed, 2011) Adobe Probe (Screwgun, 2020) Attention Spam (Screwgun, 2021) 5 (Screwgun, 2021) Decay (Screwgun, 2022)

With Jane Ira Bloom Art and Aviation (Arabesque, 1992)

With Uri Caine Urlicht / Primal Light (Winter & Winter, 1997) Gustav Mahler in Toblach (Winter & Winter, 1999) Gustav Mahler: Dark Flame (Winter & Winter, 2003)

With Baikida Carroll Marionettes on a High Wire (OmniTone, 2001)

With Tony Malaby Sabino (Arabesque, 2000) With Mark Murphy

Beauty and the Beast (Muse, 1986)

With Art Pepper San Francisco Samba (Contemporary, 1977)

With Gary Thomas Pariah's Pariah (Winter & Winter, 1998) With Jack Walrath Serious Hang (Muse, 1992 )