Interview by Joe Montague
In mid March Mindi Abair’s hit single “Bloom” peaked
at number one on Radio and Records’ smooth jazz charts, and by the end of the
month was still solidly entrenched in the
number
three spot. Her current CD Life Less Ordinary reached number one on Billboard’s
Contemporary Jazz Album chart, fueled by the success of another single from the
record, “True Blue.” The song “True Blue” went all the way to number one on
Mediaguide’s JazzWeek Smooth Jazz Chart.
Despite the two monster hits, and the overall success of her current album,
Abair has not been seduced by her notoriety and told me in a recent interview,
“It is a fun thing to look at on a chart, but it doesn’t really mean anything in
the whole spectrum of things. In the true world, the mortal world, people don’t
care whether your songs are number ten, number fifty or number one, but as an
artist, number one sounds really cool (she laughs) and we all love to go number
one.”
“The song “Bloom” is interesting, and I think that it has connected with a lot
of people. It is a different sound than you are used to hearing on the radio for
this genre,” says Abair.
“Bloom” is a song that carries audiences on a wave,
cutting deep grooves, fronted by Abair’s sax and Matthew Hager’s melodic pop
oriented guitar riffs.
“When we play “Bloom” live we just really romp
it out, and it is fun to watch the audience as we go. It is a very pop oriented
song, and I have made my career out of mixing pop and jazz,” she says.
Abair and her band have come up with a new name for the style of music that she
often plays, and into which she feels “Bloom” fits. “There is smooth jazz,
contemporary jazz, and modern jazz, and now there is ‘stadium jazz.’ At certain
shows we say, ‘Get out your lighters and your cell phones. Get them ready
because we are going to play “Bloom.” We played it in my hometown of St.
Petersburg Florida a couple of months ago, and there had to be fifteen thousand
cell phones and lighters waving back and forth. It was just awesome,” she says.
The CD Life Less Ordinary is aptly titled for this is an eclectic collection of
tunes. The eighth track “Ordinary Love” is a laid-back track with hints of bossa
nova and more ethereal vocals. Matthew Hager who produced the CD co-wrote
“Ordinary Love” with Abair.
Abair talks about writing and recording “Ordinary Love,” “I was singing along to
it (the music) and this light summery song became a vocal song. It is very
haunting but light hearted and fun. It has a light acoustic guitar kind of
thing.”
Then as she often does throughout our conversation Abair laughs, and as if to
let me in on a secret she shares with me, “We had a huge space in the solo and
we were thinking, ‘How are we going to fix this space? What are we going to put
in there?’ I said, ‘Quick wind the track back and put it on record.’ He (Hager)
put it on record and I hit this really large bell. He looked at me and goes,
‘Yes!’ I never knew that was it, but that was it! At some point in the song you
hear ding!”
“We had a good time with “Ordinary Love” and had fun using percussion and
guitar. Even the soprano (sax) solos are kind of quirky. It is fun, winds around
and does all of these things. I think it turned out to be a really fun song,”
she says.
The opening track “Do You Miss Me?” from the current CD begins with an
understated seductive vocal before breaking into a stronger vocal complimented
with a saxophone offering. Hager’s guitar riffs provide a strong accompaniment
to Abair’s playing.
Abair’s notes are soaked in R&B and funk flavors due to influences from her
childhood. Her father Lance played in a band. “They were great. They could
really rock out but even more so, they were really funky. James Brown used to
come in and sit with them. There is a bunch of pictures on my dad’s studio wall
of him playing with James Brown. His (her dad’s) style was a lot like Mayfield
Parker where less is more, not a notey player but just really funky. He would
maybe dance with one or two notes instead of sixty-seven. It was fun to grow up
with that kind of music,” she says.
Abair’s R&B / funk roots combine with her love for
the music of bands such as Earth, Wind & Fire, Chaka Khan, Stevie Wonder and
James Brown, to infuse “The Joint”. As great, as “Bloom” and “True Blue” have
been “The Joint”, if released, as a single will likely be the song from Life
Less Ordinary that will dominate the charts for weeks. This is a tune that to
put a twist on an old song title will have people shouting, “Play That Funky
Music White Girl.”
In concerts, “The Joint” has already been a huge success. Abair observes, “When
performed live “The Joint,” has become an anthem. You can always judge what a
song is, and how it is going to do by the way that people react to it. Boy,
people just get on their feet with that song. There is something about the beat.
The guitar and the bass get people up on their feet. Before we are through the
song, usually everyone is in the aisles getting crazy, and I love that. I
absolutely love having a song on the CD that makes people move. It is the song
in my set that everyone gets to solo on, go out and show his or her personality.
People just eat that up. The groove keeps them (the audience) going. They (her
fans) don’t want to stop dancing after that.”
“I think any type of performance is a two way street and I have to say that it
is so great when you have an audience that pays attention, responds, and is in
the moment with you. That makes all the difference in the world for a performer
because it is not just your energy. I could be up there putting out tons of
energy, and the audience could be almost asleep. That is what you do not want to
happen. Hopefully you put enough into your songs, performance or the pyro
(technics) (at this point she laughs) on stage, whatever it take really to get
them to pay attention and be part of this journey with you,” she says laughing
once again.
“Not only does the audience thrive off of what I am playing, but I thrive off of
their reaction. If they get up and dance, we are on fire even more. If they put
up their lighters and cell phones, and are waving them around then it becomes a
rock concert. I think if it is a good show, you will have good camaraderie. You
are supposed to be in it all the way with the audience. That is definitely what
my band and I strive to do, and we have a blast,” says Abair.
Mindi just where do all these hit songs keep coming
from?
“I think songs come from everywhere. I do find
that a lot of things do come to me in the shower, driving a car or on an
airplane, anytime the mind can go into that state of creativity where you are
not having a thousand things on your mind,” she says. At still other times,
Abair will collaborate on her songwriting with people such as her principal
co-writer Hager or others.
The multi talented Abair who also plays keyboards says, “It is interesting being
able to play different instruments, and view the music from different sides.
When you are writing a song obviously you have to figure out what is right for
that song. If you have a melody in your head, you ask yourself, ‘Is that a vocal
melody that I hear? Am I going to sing this or would it be better as a soprano
or alto sax? Sometimes it just takes sitting down and trying to sing to it or
play one of the saxes to it. All of a sudden, it will come to life with one of
the instruments, and I usually go from there. At other times, I will start
singing a melody, and I will have words to it immediately. I will know what the
song is about, what the title is going to be and hear the whole thing. When I
can hear background vocals that is when I know I am going to sing a song.
Otherwise, I usually sit down with one of the saxes and say, “Yeah’, that’s what
I was thinking,” says Abair.
While Abair’s father Lance gets a lot of the
attention because of his musical background she says, her mother Linda’s
influences are often overlooked by those not in the know. “I have to say that my
mom is definitely a huge influence. She is not a musician, but I think she gave
me all the tools to become a successful musician. She is a great person, and
very mindful of responsibility. She taught me discipline, and the belief that if
you are going to do something then you should do it well,” she says. Abair says
her mother instilled in her a work ethic that helped Abair to forge a successful
music career.