MINDI ABAIR
Stars
Peak Records
Read the
Jazzitude review of Mindi Abair/Life Less Ordinary
Mindi Abair is a pop music artist, and to
some extent it’s always been clear that’s where
she’s going. So the yardstick for measuring Stars
is primarily as contemporary pop music, not as jazz or smooth
jazz or any other label you’d care to throw around.
Yes, Abair rose to fame primarily as a smooth jazz instrumentalist,
but looking back at her discography, one can’t help
but notice that she has sung on every one of her albums;
it’s just part of the Mindi Abair package. Stars
merely seeks to redefine that package by shifting the
weight of its elements around. Abair sings on half the CDs
tracks, and these are full-fledged songs, not the type of
instrumental with vocal accents that have sometimes been
featured (“Do You Miss Me” from Life Less
Ordinary comes to mind). Furthermore, her voice has
developed since her last release and she is co-writing her
own material. Add to that the changeup that instrumental
numbers featuring her saxophone playing bring to the mix,
and you’ve got a seemingly unbeatable force.
Abair isn’t going to make any inroads
with jazz fans who scoff at the very notion of smooth jazz
being connected with jazz music—and she isn’t
trying. But she is going to get folks who might find a whole
album of instrumentals—even catchy pop ones—a
bit monotonous, to take a listen to her. Stars
gives new listeners a chance to hear her as a female pop
vocalist as well as an instrumentalist. There will probably
be some Abair fans who will balk at the wealth of vocal
numbers here, especially since many of these don’t
feature her sax playing at all. But overall it seems likely
that Abair will garner new listeners while keeping her old
ones happy.
“Smile,” the album’s first
single (already garnering major airplay on smooth jazz radio
stations) splits the difference with Abair’s melodic
sax work out front backed by a wordless vocal chorus comprised
of Abair’s voice overdubbed multiple times. This track
features only two instrumentalists—Abair and her longtime
collaborator and producer Matthew Hagar, and serves as something
of an upbeat introduction. “On and On” is the
first vocal track, and finds Mindi in a nostalgic mood as
she recounts growing up in St. Petersburg, Florida. “I
never dreamed that I would/win the grand prize/hit the big
time; I never even thought I’d be queen for a day”
she sings in this catchy piano-based ballad. “Out
of the Blue” is a contemporary instrumental number
that is just as catchy and which finds Mindi’s trademark
alto sax sound perfectly on target.
Next is the title track, another vocal ballad
that recounts the heartache of a long distance relationship.
When this track is released as a single, its possible that
Abair will have her best chance ever to place a song high
on the mainstream pop music charts. She follows that up
with arguably one of the coolest instrumental tracks on
the album, ‘F.L.A. Swing.” It not only features
some great frontline alto work by Ms. Abair, but some cool
‘ensemble’ playing as well, courtesy of her
overdubbed saxophone. The remaineder of the vocal tracks
are pretty good, with “Change” standing out
in particular. Mindi gives a heartfelt vocal on “Here
for You” following up with the gentle blues/gospel
inflected “Gonna Be Alright.” Abair invokes
a gospel feel with soprano sax on the instrumental “Gingerbread
Man” and a hard-edged, more rock feel on “Mojo”
demonstrating that she can mix it up stylistically.
Whether Abair will managed to break out of
the smooth jazz ghetto (if one can use that term with regard
to a genre that sells more music than any other instrumental
category)and find a mainstream audience with Stars remains
to be seen (though I wouldn’t bet against her). Most
longtime fans will be pleased, regardless, with this highly
polished, entertaining, and enjoyable album.
