Saxophonist Mindi Abair debuts on the Concord Records label tomorrow with the new set Stars. The album features more of Abair's breathy pop vocals and lyrics, along with her hooky saxophone-led tracks.
Inspired by such pop artists as Feist, Corinne Bailey Rae, Sara Bareilles, and John Mayer, Abair says she wanted to make an album that reflected her own singer-songwriter sensibilities while not abandoning her smooth jazz fans.
Produced on her own 23 Entertainment imprint, Stars also features the work of bassist John Taylor from Duran Duran, keyboardist Ricky Peterson, drummer Abe Laboriel Jr., cellist Richard Dodd, and longtime collaborator Matthew Hager.
Abair says she's happy with the partnership with Concord, which allowed her free reign in creating the project. She explained: "You know, they let me do it on my own little boutique label, which I think is so fun. And they really just let us alone in the studio. At a certain point I called and just said, 'Do you guys even want to hear this? I mean, you know, is it OK that we're just going crazy in here? You know, we're writing, we're jamming with John Taylor in here, we're bringing different people in. I mean, we're just --' We went nuts. And they let us."
Abair is being heard at smooth jazz radio with the tune "Smile," while AC music fans are being treated to the title track "Stars."
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