SteepleChase Records recording artist Joe Manis has been applauded for his "big tenor sound" and his "intense, updated take on the Rollins-Trane tradition." His most recent SteepleChase recording, The Golden Mean , was released in 2015 and features George Colligan on organ and Kevin Congleton on drums. North By Northwest was released by SteepleChase in 2013. He released his debut album Evidence in 2009, which features Manis on tenor saxophone, Dave Captein on bass, and Congleton on drums. Recent Joe Manis Trio appearances include Fat Cat NYC, Jimmy Mak's, Tula's, the Portland Jazz Festival, the Cathedral Park Jazz Festival, the Montavilla Jazz Festival and the Shedd Institute’s jazz series. He was the recipient of a 2013 Oregon Arts Commission Individual Artist Fellowship.
Manis has played with Dr. Thomas Mapfumo and the Blacks Unlimited, including a performance at Carnegie Hall's Zankel Hall, and appears on their album Rise Up! on Real World Records; he has also performed with the George Colligan Quartet, the Chuck Israels Jazz Orchestra, the David Friesen Quartet and Quintet, the Ken Schaphorst Big Band, and the Alan Jones Sextet. Manis appears on Risky Notion (four stars & Best Albums of 2015, DownBeat Magazine) on Origin Records with George Colligan's Theoretical Planets. Additional appearances include performances with the Temptations, comedian Bob Newhart, Wayne Newton, the Oregon Bach Festival Orchestra, the Sunriver Music Festival Orchestra, the Eugene Symphony, and the Eugene Opera.
Formerly a faculty member at Umpqua Community College, Manis has presented jazz masterclasses across the country, including at Whitman College, University of Texas at Arlington, University of Oregon, Ferris State University, Willamette University, and Southern Oregon University. He received a Master of Music in Jazz Studies- Performance with Academic Honor from the New England Conservatory and a Bachelor of Music in Jazz Studies from the University of Oregon. Additional studies were at the Eastman School of Music. His written work has been published by JAZZed magazine and the Jazz Society of Oregon's Jazzscene.