'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...'

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.