Abby's Agenda/Michael Manring The Best of the B-Sides - The Best of the Basses

Abby’s Agenda: songs lost, estranged, left-by-the-wayside. From songwriting greats like Frank Loesser and Jimmy McHugh, Fats Waller and Andy Razaf, and the poignant, and prolific, Tom Waits. These are the B-Sides of the Great American Songbook, reanimated by a unique local trio named for its vocalist, Abby Sheldon-Dean, whose passion for the material drives this band. Backing the vocals is Burlington’s own Jeff Salisbury, a drummer of brilliant skill, depth and wit, and bassist Jim Sheldon-Dean, whose work gives the trio its singular sound. In the absence of the customary piano or guitar, Jim and his Fender electric are obliged to take the bass places it doesn’t often go.

Enter Michael Manring: Uunparalleled master of the fretless bass, and hailed by many as the world’s leading solo bassist, Michael has dedicated his career to taking the bass places it doesn’t often go. From “goofing around” with altered tunings, to the development of the innovative Hyberbass, Michael has been defining bass playing’s frontier for the past twenty years. “I always loved the bass guitar and I always thought it could do all this crazy stuff.” Humble and self-effacing, Michael calmly blows the doors off our musical expectations and greets us on a profound emotional level. Performing his solo compositions, and adding his authentic voice to the trio, Michael demonstrates why he is called the freshest and most inventive bassist playing today.