Dec. 2011

Mindi Abair – Comin’ As She Is

We certainly hope that you love to read because here again is another of our pretty detailed profiles—this time, of an artist who is truly worthy of every word written here and more. To grasp all that she is (or, at least, most of who she is), it was imperative that we present her in this manner.

Mindi Abair was born in St. Petersburg, Florida and spent much of her early life on the road with her father’s band, The Entertainers. She comes from a musical family.. Her father, Lance Abair, played saxophone and keyboards, and her grandmother was an opera singer, a coloratura soprano.

When asked about their childhoods and musical influences, many artists look back fondly on a certain album or song they heard or a certain moment of epiphany where their future came clear. “Not me,” says Abair. “Between watching my father onstage and spending time with my grandmother who was an opera singer, music was always around me. My parents gave in to my constant banging on the piano with lessons at age five, and when I was able to choose a band instrument in fourth grade, I copied my father and went straight for the saxophone. Music was always my normal. I never considered doing anything else. And by the time someone told me it was odd for a girl to play a saxophone, it was too late.”

She continued taking every band and chorus class offered throughout elementary, middle, and high school. She became the youngest drum major in the history of her high school marching band and led the band for her junior and senior years, winning numerous awards as best drum major and best marching band, eventually representing the United States to compete in Vienna, Austria.

As a senior in high school, she auditioned and won the 1st chair alto saxophone for the Florida All-State Jazz Band. “That was a defining moment for me. I was pushed musically by the students in the band as well as the band director. I had the time of my life, and this really gave me the push and the confidence to make the decision to go to college for music.”

The saxophonist spent her first year of college at University of North Florida, a jazz program started by Rich Matteson (North Texas State University). She then transferred to Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA, where she graduated Magna Cum Laude with a degree in Woodwind Performance.

During her years at Berklee, Abair studied with Joe Viola on saxophone. She says, “Week after week I would go into his office and he would say to me, ‘I want you to start your own band. I want you to record your own music. I know you write a lot and you’ve got your own sound. You should go after that. Don’t try to play like your friends; don’t try to play like Coltrane. Don’t try to be Cannonball Adderley or Maceo or Wayne Shorter.’ Those were my heroes at the time. I think that was a nice lesson to learn early on. Be yourself. I started my own band, writing and recording in the studios whenever they’d have free time on the books, which was usually overnight. My teacher Joe actually let me play a concert with my own band for my Senior Recital. That was a huge turning point for me because I had to put together a whole concert, play my own music, and be the leader. I went for the sound that was in my own head, and tried to create my own world around me with that. As far as my approach on saxophone, my sound was everything. I wanted a big sound, and I wanted to convey feeling and emotion as a player and as a writer. I was never the player who strived to play the fastest, loudest, and highest. I wanted listeners to go on a journey with me and feel something by the end of a song.”

After graduation, Abair moved to Los Angeles, where she began booking her band into clubs and, as she’s stated, “anywhere they would let us play.”  “When I moved to Los Angeles, I realized that you didn’t just come out and make it in the music business overnight. People had their first call guys that they hired, and you couldn’t just come in and take over. I learned that you have to make your own. And because no one would hire me, I made my own. I did everything from playing on the street to booking myself as a solo saxophonist to playing in lobbies of hotels or strolling around solo at parties, and even playing with a trio, or a duo, hiring people I wanted to play with. I begged my friend from college at

Berklee in Boston, Tommy Coster, Jr., to move to LA because I didn’t know anyone here who would play with me. I promised him I would get us bookings. He moved to LA from Boston, and I did get us bookings…we did the coffee shop circuit and played basically anywhere they would feed us dinner! After that, he helped me get guys to play with us and between us we formed my first band outside of college. I played all the little rocker clubs in Hollywood, and any jazz club or restaurant that would let us in…everyone was playing for free. We moved up slowly to getting paid maybe $30-$50 a night. We definitely paid our dues. We even played on the route of the LA Marathon (for free) just to play. We didn’t say no to any opportunity to get in front of people and play.”

“All I ever wanted to be was a solo artist. I wanted to write and play and sing my own music. I made demo after demo and I’d shop them to any record label that would listen. I played everywhere and anywhere I could. I ‘ve been told ‘no’ so many times by so many people. I was told ‘We don’t need any more saxophone players, we have too many.’ I was told “Are you a saxophonist or a singer? You have to choose, because there’s not a market for you to do both. “

Meanwhile, the comely saxtress created her own path. She decided to forgo the usual “day job” approach to play her saxophone a capella on the street in Santa Monica, CA. “I was desperate to play, and it wasn’t easy to break into the L.A. music business as a newcomer. I decided to ‘do what I do,’ no matter how unglamorous the situation was. It paid the rent for a while!”  It didn’t take long for people to recognize her talent and get her “off the Street.” Jazz veteran Bobby Lyle took her card as he walked by one day and hired her to record on his Power of Touch CD and tour with him.

Her touring possibilities expanded even more when John Tesh came to see her band play at Le Café in Sherman Oaks, CA. After the show, he hired her to tour with him as his saxophonist for his Sax By the Fire CD/Tour. That led to the start of an impressive career as a sideperson. She joined Jonathan Butler’s band, and on her off-time from his tour, really started to hit the LA music scene playing with her own solo band as well as many others. She toured with many people during this period, including Rick Braun, Teena Marie, and even some local clubs with friend Keb’ Mo’.  She was featured on saxophone in the Go West video “Tell Me.”

In 1996, Abair hit the road with Adam Sandler as a saxophonist and singer for his summer tour, appeared in his HBO Special, and recorded on his platinum CD What’s Your Name? She played the saxophone solo on the famous football anthem “The Lonesome Kicker.”

In 1999, Abair joined the Backstreet Boys for their Millennium World Tour. She spent the next year and a half as their saxophonist, keyboardist ,and percussionist, instantly becoming a role model to millions of young girls around the world. “Being on the road with the Backstreet Boys was such a life experience for me. Every time they changed clothes I got to run around the stage and play an extended sax solo. I really got to open up and explore who I was as a player and perform on a huge level every night.”

One of the opening acts for the Backstreet Boys was Mandy Moore, and as one of the only girls out on the road with a huge traveling tour, Abair befriended Moore, so when the time came for Moore to start her own live band, Abair put it together for her. She was the musical director, keyboardist, background singer, and percussionist for Moore for many television appearances and shows.

On her off-time from touring, Abair was completing her first complete solo record. She called her best friend from college, Matthew Hager, to co-write the songs, and it turned out to be a long lasting musical partnership. Between flights and odd cities, Abair recorded in Hagar’s extra bedroom on a Tascam 8-track. All of her friends and band members pitched in and played, and she released it on her website, selling thousands of copies as an indie artist. “I was so influenced by this great pop music I was surrounded with. I’m a saxophone player  first and foremost, but it was great to expand my horizons for this recording and write and record lyrics. I really opened up and thought differently about the music I was making. I had played in clubs for years thinking about what I was going to play over the changes in a song….what I was going to say as an instrumentalist. I opened up and grew to thinking that way as a lyricist and singer.”

On a break from the Backstreet Boys tour, Bud Harner, A&R for Verve Records, saw Abair perform with Jonathan Butler at a New Year’s Eve show. He approached her and gave her his card, saying “If you ever want to make a record, give me a call.” Abair made that call as her tour with the Backstreet Boys and Mandy Moore came to an end. Once again, she called on Matthew Hager to co-write with her and produce. She ultimately talked Verve Records into taking a chance with her own songs and her original sound.

Her 2003 debut major label release on Verve Records, It Just Happens That Way, debuted in the Top 5 on the Billboard Contemporary Jazz Chart and remained in the Top 10 for 19 consecutive weeks. The hit single “Lucy’s,” was # 1 on the airplay charts for a record-breaking eight weeks, and Abair was hailed for leading a new movement in contemporary music. She set sonic trends and broke all the boundaries as she defined the less traditional future of jazz. She infused acoustic guitar and pop/rock sensibilities of the day with saxophone and created a genre all her own with pop vocals mixed with strong saxophone melodies and soul and rock rhythms. Jazz Week named It Just Happens That Way the # 1 most played Contemporary Jazz CD of 2003.

That year, Abair recorded on saxophone with Lee Ritenour on A Twist of Motown and as a vocalist with Jeff Golub on Soul Sessions.  In December, she joined guitarist Peter White for a Christmas tour of the U.S., which would turn into a long musical relationship that continues to this day.

Her 2004 follow-up disc Come As You Are — which dug into deeper emotional and stylistic territory while spawning two more hit singles “Come As You Are” and “Make A Wish”— kept the momentum jetting skyward. Her song “I Can Remember” was featured in Aaron Spelling’s hit “Summerland,” and her song “Every Time” was featured in the Robin Williams/Mandy Moore movie “License to Wed”. Her video was featured on Panasonic’s jumbotron in Times Square, and she and her music were featured in a Women in Jazz concert for the Grammy Foundation.  She is currently featured on Grammy.com in an article titled “Mindi Abair Comes As She Is.”  It features an interview and a live video of the saxophonist and her college friend, vocalist Lalah Hathaway ,perforning a few songs at the Grammy Block Party in Los Angeles to benefit PATH (People Assisting the Homeless).  They joined forces with the help of Rickey Minor’s band for “Summertime” and “It’s A Man’s Man’s Man’s World,” which they recorded together on Abair’s “In Hi Fi Stereo” CD 2010.  You can view the article and the video at http://www.grammy.com/news/mindi-abair-comes-as-she-is.

Abair’s career is replete with so many other fascinating accomplishments and recordings, including her latest recording, In Hi Fi Stereo and her involvement as a spokesperson for PRVCY Jeans, a company that gives 10% of its proceeds to fight breast cancer. Go to http://www.prvcypremium.com for more information on this.  Her first single from the In Hi Fi Stereo is also the first single from the PRVCY United We Cure CD, featuring artists like Lalah Hathaway, Rahsaan Patterson, Hill St. Soul, Brian Culbertson and Wayman Tisdale.

The sparkling—and very busy—artist is also a governor of the Los Angeles Chapter of the Recording Acadamy and is very involved with the Grammy Foundation and GRAMMY in the schools (http://www.grammyintheschools.com).  Adding to that, she is an Artist Ambassador for the Campbell’s Soup Labels for Education program, visiting schools and sharing her knowledge and experience with the kids in music programs around America.

Where does the woman find the energy? Easy and obvious—from deep within the core of her convictions to both music and causes. It is clear that her heart is as bright and all-encompassing as her music. Truly deserving to be our Featured Artist this month, we salute this remarkable talent and wish her continued success in all of her endeavors. – Ronald Jackson

Many thanks to MindiAbair.com for providing much of this information