I've met Manring at NAMM. I play Zon basses, and say hi to Joe Zon every year at the show. Manring is a Zon endorser and quite the original "voice" on the instrument.
Marcus has a link to a letter from Brecker's wife about his plight:
http://www.marcusmiller.com/news_entry.html?newsid=137&color=8
And speaking of "those were the days", there was a one-off group that did some shows in Europe: ERIC CLAPTON (guitar & vocals), STEVE GADD (drums), MARCUS MILLER (bass), JOE SAMPLE (piano) and DAVID SANBORN (saxophone)
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000AMJFX6/102-1848067-9412130?v=glance&n=130&v=glance