Stars, Mindi Abair's new release, has her exploring new territory not just as an instrumentalist, but as a singer/songwriter. The result is one of the most original sounding adult alternative albums out there, a collection of instrumental and vocal songs that are not bound by genre or format. The songs she sings are both personal and universal, the songs she plays on sax just rock the house. She has always been accessible and down to earth. The fact that this busy artist took time on a Saturday afternoon to do this interview says a lot about how much she does care about her work and her fans.  Talking to her is like talking to a long time friend, just chatting about the stuff that matters. Listening to Stars is has the same effect, so it was really fun to hear her tell the stories behind the songs and how they came about.

SmoothViews (SV): This CD is so wonderful and so brave because you didn't hold back at all, either as a sax player or a singer/songwriter. You've done some vocal songs that you wrote on your other albums but it's always been one or two. This time you did five. Why did you decide to move more into singer/songwriter territory on Stars?
Mindi Abair (MA): I've always used CDs as kind of a snapshot of where I was, a venue to show where I was and what I was thinking or experiencing. Over the last year I've been so inspired by all the singer/songwriters that are out there. There is so much great new music. A lot of them are instrumentalists too and I love that. I've been getting into all this new music like Sara Bareilles, K.T. Tunstall, Feist, artists like that. I think that inspired me to write more in that vein. I got a piano two years ago, so there's this huge grand piano sitting in the middle of my living room just asking me to play it every day. I'd sit there and just kind of sing and play these melodies. A lot of this record came from just me sitting and playing the piano and kind of working out ideas so I think this particular CD had a little bit of a different inspiration and a different life to it than the others. Each one of my CDs is definitely different from the others and just wants to kind of follow what I think is cool at the time. If I can make the record that I'm not bored with, that I think is interesting and thought provoking, then I hope that other people want to hear it and that they think it's interesting and cool. It doesn't always happen but you have to hope (laughs).

SV: One thing you do that a lot of songwriters you just mentioned don't do is you come out and say that a song was inspired by things that actually happened in your life. When you  put it out there like that do you think it makes you more vulnerable? Do you not think self-revelation is dangerous when you are so well known?
MA: Revelation is really dangerous (laughs). Someone asked me what the hardest part of making this record was and my answer was that the hardest part is letting those songs out that are really personal and being OK with it or trying to be OK with it. Sometimes you write and express these feelings, then you put them into songs and people are going to know exactly what your life is and exactly what you are feeling. That's a tough thing to be OK with. As a sax player you're going to play but people are going to take their own experiences and relate them to what you are playing. With a vocal song that you write that's very personal, they are going to know exactly what you are thinking and exactly what's going on in your life. I think it takes a lot of bravery and courage. Not to write the songs, because they are what's going on in your heart, but to actually say it's going to go on the record. You are putting yourself on the line and leaving yourself out there to be picked apart or for people to judge. I think that's a really important part about making the record personally. I love artists who give a piece of themselves and aren't scared to let people know what they are feeling, whether it's love related or political or personal life stuff. It makes me feel like I know them better and I respect the fact that they let me know them better. I strive to do that and it does take some guts sometimes.

SV: You're saying things that a fan can pick up and read in the liner notes that you could be just telling your two best friends. You're telling thousands of your best friends.
MA: Sure, exactly. I played the title track to my husband. I'd just come from the studio and done a demo of it so it was the first time he heard the song. I played it for him on the car stereo and I was thinking that the song is really autobiographical, it is what we go through so much with me traveling. So I play it for  him and there's just silence. And I'm thinking 'Oh boy, he doesn't like the song' and I say 'Do you like it' and there's this little silence and I say "you hate it.' and he finally says "Give me a second, I'm really choked up. It's good."  And I thought that if I could write a song that would choke up my husband and he knows it's for us and it's personal then that's a good sign. That needs to go on the record.

SV: There's such a universality to that theme,
MA: You go through it no matter what, whether you're an artist on the road or someone that has to go on a business trip or just anything where you have to travel without someone you love.

SV: You lived here for a while (Jacksonville, FL) and theres a big military population, where people are separated for really long periods of time. I love the message in that song, that you can both look up and you are under the same stars.
MA: Stars are so romantic. You can be different places in the world and still look up at the same star. It's a romantic thing like the stars are out tonight, let's cuddle under the stars and take the time we have and make it the best we can. That's the direction of the song, I think it came out and I'm very proud of it. I can't look at him when I sing it though.

SV: Do you get teared up.
MA: Yeah. During one of the first performances I looked at him and kinda said "oops, nope..don't look at him."

SV: That's so romantic
MA: It's romantic till you crack a note and everybody thinks you just screwed up and they don't know why.

SV: "On and On" is this nostalgic thing about growing up and having no idea you would end up basically living a dream? Are  you kind of amazed about all that has happened to you?
MA: I didn't grow up dreaming about fame. I just had fun playing music and listening to music with my friends and dancing around in our garages so that wasn't what I was looking for. I was just having a good time being a musician and a listener and a fan. I think kids look at it differently now because celebrity is such a huge thing and it's kind of dangerous. It's fun to get into music because you think playing it is fun, and there is an innocence to that which I think is great. It obviously became my job and I love that, and there is a certain amount of fame to that but sometimes you have to sit back and just go "wow, I just grew up in a small town hanging out playing music and this actually turned into something, which is really cool." That's what the song is about, just sitting back and going “wow, this is the tread of my life.”

SV: I had to laugh because so many songs have some part that sounds like another song and when  you did it on the online concert people kept typing "Easy Like A Sunday Morning," on the screen.
MA: I know, we've got some really tuned in listeners to catch that. There are parts in so many songs where you hear parts of other songs. I gave all the sheet music to my band with the CD to learn the music for live shows this year and they came back with everything that it sounded like. There's a moment where it sounds like "Let It Be," and a couple of Elton John songs, and they came up with "Easy" as well. It's fun that you can sit with a song and come up with the influences when you weren't even thinking about it when you wrote it.

SV: You wrote a wonderful song about how important lasting friendships are, in this case your friendship with Matthew Hagar. That's territory most songwriters don't explore because I guess songs about romantic love have more drama and angst and that makes for better copy.
MA: "Here for You" is probably going to be thought of as a romantic song because that's the way most people will take it, because it is very romantic - the concept of being there for someone and seeing someone through and having their back. For me it was a song of friendship. When I moved to LA I only knew one person. I had $1200 and I drove here myself. Then Matthew, who was my best friend from college, moved here and we really had each others backs. If he lost his job I'd help him through the next month. If I lost a waitressing job and needed to borrow money to pay the rent he was there for me. It's come to the point where I've played in his band, he's played in my band. We've saved each other so many times, we've hired each other so many times, it's like wow, what a friendship. You sit back and look at that and go I have someone who is going to have my back at any point and after all these years we just know that. I think it's a really special thing that a lot of people don't have.

SV: There is some creative spark between you and Matthew that has allowed you to create music that has been really successful commercially and it sounds nothing like what is coming from the circle of musicians that hang out, play and record where you live.
MA: It's crazy music. We have this thing where we get in each other's cars and just play what's on our iPods and it's all over the place. Whatever is new and cool, he's got it. We just go back and forth with music and I think we inspire each other. We grew up together musically from college on and we went through so many stages with each other, whether it was fusion or when he was really into rap back then and that was different for me. Then I'd play him Stevie Wonder and stuff like that. I think that gives us a freedom now to know what each of us are into and our strengths as writers and players and we can create with no boundaries We try all kinds of things and we make tons of mistakes. We don't have to be on the clock recording at a big studio, we can just go for it and see what we like.

SV: When "Life Less Ordinary" came out people were talking about how you cut loose on the instrumentals there, but you even went further in that direction with this one. You really cut loose and did some loud, funky, in-your-face solos.
MA: We had some fun on the instrumentals. John Taylor from Duran Duran came over to jam and we just sat around and kind of played and switched instruments, I'd go from piano to sax and he'd go from bass to guitar and we finally ended up with him on acoustic guitar doing a funky kind of swing ragga thing . I don't know what  you'd call it but it developed into this song. I call it F.L.A. Swing because it has this Florida swampy vibe, not traditional swing but more like an alligator swinging its tail.

SV: You broke every rule in the book with that one. It doesn't sound like all the edges were polished up, it's got a shrieking loud sax solo and it's totally not relaxing. Thanks for throwing out the rulebook on these songs.
MA: I gave it my best shot (laughs). I try not to play by those rules, it keeps it interesting.

SV: I love the sound you got on "Mojo." The production on it sounds like it was recorded live in a basement late at night, it's really thick and gritty. Did you process the sound different for that one.
MA: We started cutting up some sax stuff and we came up with this cool drum thing. I think it was the perfect title because it had that kind of power. It wasn't a processing kind of thing, we went for kind of an older sound and we didn't put any contemporary type effects on it. It was more of a lack of effects and lack of processing that made it what it was.

SV: I saw a review from someone who liked the album but said that you would eventually have to choose between doing a singer/songwriter album and doing an instrumental album instead of continuing to mix it up and I wondered why choose when they mesh. Do you think that has to be separate paths at some point?
MA: There are lots of people who sing and play. Look at George Benson, he's been making albums that were part vocal and part instrumental for years. Billy Joel didn't make a piano record and then a vocal one. I know sax is seen a bit differently but I always thought if lyrics came to me for the song then it's a vocal song, and other songs come out as instrumentals. It's all me, just different inspirations.

SV: There's an overtone of hope on this CD that is really interesting considering that a lot of people are having a hard time hanging on to hope right now. It's not just in the vocal songs, the instrumentals are really uplifting and have a party vibe. How did you get this wellspring of hope?
MA: I think writing for this record was a total escape for me. I was in and out from being on the road and doing shows and it was an escape for me to come home and sit at my piano and kind of escape the world around me, all the talk of war, the economy, the elections...it's a rough time for everyone. I just hid in my little recording studio and sat at my piano and let stuff come out of my head that was happy and joyful and hopeful. These songs that came out would show my mind and what I wanted to be instead of where the world was dragging us down to. I think that hopefulness really came out and the escape that I was feeling. It's wild that after writing a bunch of songs I put them in a pile and went "ooh, that really was my escape wasn't it.” I wanted some happiness, I wanted to smile and let go a little bit and that's how it came out.

SV: The online concert you did earlier this month on DeepRockDrive was really fun. I didn't know how it was going to work coming in, I thought it might be like watching the jumbotron from the nosebleed section at an arena concert. It was totally different, it was very one on one. I don't know if part of that was the production or if it was because you and your band connect with people so well but it was fun to watch what other people were saying too.
MA: What I love about the Internet and the online concert is that you get people from everywhere and it makes a community. They can talk together and they can talk to you. They could vote on the songs. For us it was almost an ADD kind of overload with the voting on the songs and comments coming up on all those screens.

SV: Were you able to see all that while you were playing?
MA: We saw everything. Hundreds of people popping up with the comments and stuff.

SV: The comments were so fascinating and there were so many of them. How could you focus on playing?
MA: I was going to forget the words to the songs because I was reading so much. It was a wonderful overload of information and fun and community and I love that. As much as we can interact like that in the future I'm all for it. That's what music is. We all have common likes and interests and music brings us together, it's one of the most uniting things that I know of and we can use the new technologies to make these connections with each other.

SV: How did the idea come up?
MA: One of my friends is a director at Deep Rock Drive and we had been talking about what he was doing over there. I just thought it was such an interesting idea. I thought the idea of a global interactive concert was such a cool thing so I went to one of the shows and it was phenomenal. It was overwhelming, just looking at it all going by. It looks cool, it sounds great, you can choose your camera angles, it was great. I was talking with him and decided we had to do this. I got my record label and management involved and we made it happen. They've never had anything but rock bands in there so this was kind of their first time in the jazz world or the pop world. It was a different direction for them. They loved it, we loved it. They broke the rules for us because they'd never done a pop or jazz concert and we had never done anything that interactive before. I think it was a great day for all parties. I got to do a CD release party that people could come to no matter where they lived. It was an interesting, cool thing to do from my perspective.

SV: It's a really cool thing for people who live in smaller towns that don't get a lot of live music too. I used to live in a tiny town in the middle of Georgia and we had to drive two hours to Atlanta or three hours to Jacksonville to see a concert and that was when gas was cheap. This is wonderful for people in situations like that. For smooth jazz it could be a way to show fans and potential fans all over the world what it sounds like when these musicians get to play without the format restrictions that most of them have to modify for on their recordings.
MA: I'm a big proponent of giving away something. I'm not against that. I always test out music. I go to people's websites and listen to songs to see if I like them or go to iTunes and check out the 30 seconds that they have there because there is so much music. For me I want to see what I'm getting and even if I wanted to go out and buy a CD there's not that much to choose from on the shelves. Being able to give away a concert like this so people can get to know me a little better and hear my music is prefect. Maybe after they hear it they will go out and buy a CD or come to a concert. There's so much to choose from out there, you have to hear it and see what you like.

SV: The other thing is that I might not be able to take a someone who has some prejudice against "smooth jazz" to a concert but if they are already hanging out at the house and this is running on one of the computers they may hear it or see it and go "wow, that's really good."
MA: I think live is such a different animal. A lot of my friends don't like the "smooth jazz' moniker  because they associate it with elevator music then they come to my show and they really like it. A lot of younger people hear that moniker and think of grandfather music but they go to a concert and they are completely sold. I'm all for getting out there and playing live because that's where I think the music really shines.

SV: When Chris Botti's other commitments caused him to leave the Chill radio show you took over the job and it became "Chill With Mindi Abair." How did that come about?
MA: He knew I was a fan of the music and we've been friends for years. When he was looking at taking off they called me up to see if I would kind of co-host and see how it went. I came in and actually co-hosted for a month with him then he handed over the show to me. It was a great moment, I had so much fun co-hosting with him and I've been a fan of that music for so long.

SV: So it just came naturally to you.
MA: Yeah, I don't think there were a lot of people in the contemporary jazz genre who knew a lot of the artists, like the Thievery Corporation and the people who did the Verve remix thing. I already had a lot of that music, I was a total fan already and Chris and I would have conversations about these bands so I think I was the natural go-to. I have so much fun with it. Laurie Cobb and I pick the music and there is nobody telling us what to choose.

SV: I didn't know she was doing that or that you were involved in choosing the music. To tell the truth I thought it was another case of the music being preprogrammed by a consultant and the musician host just comes in and reads the voice parts.
MA: Laurie is the programmer of the show and she has been so cool since I took over. I told her there were so many songs I love that weren't on the playlist, and asked if it would it be OK for me to have a voice in this as well. She was so open to me being a part of the program. I send her music and she's always really open to listening and adding a lot of it or telling me why she feels it doesn't fit, and we just go back and forth with it. We're like this little chill music club.

SV: That is so cool because it puts you in a position where you are getting to come in and say "This is some music I really love and I'm her to play it for you." You're not announcing, you're sharing!
MA: Exactly. That's what's fun about the show. I get to share new music with people in this special little late night hour and people get to hear what I think is cool. We introduce artists that we think are cutting edge or making music that we like. It's the most fun to do and not every radio station gets to do that anymore.

SV: How do you like talking on the radio?
MA: I have so much respect for you guys whodo that. It took me a while to get in the groove of that because you don't have an audience in front of you. I grew up as a performer and this is like "OK I'm in a room and there's no one else in there and I'm talking to people.” 

SV: You have a fabulous speaking voice but do you ever do the thing some of us in radio do where you pick apart every talk break you do, like hearing your voice inflection or accent or just the way you say something and then you just cringe ?
MA: The guy who is recording me will stop me sometimes and tell me I had an accent on that word or that I should say something a different way and I'd just go "ah, man!"  You just get picked apart or you pick yourself apart and stop yourself because you think that something sounded weird or you pronounced something oddly. It's a tough thing to have to listen to your voice in that controlled environment and try to be perfect with it. It's just not perfect. Some accent is going to come out or something else.

SV: You want to sound real though and real isn't perfect.
MA: Yeah, and that's hard. And some people in radio were telling me to just drop my voice and sound sexy. I just couldn't do that and keep a straight face. I actually sat down with some people I do respect who have done it, like Dave Koz, and asked for their advice. The piece of advice that had the biggest effect on me was that if you're not going to make it yours it's not worth doing. Get in there and put your heart and soul into it and at the end of the day if you want something throw yourself into it and make it yours. That's what I've done with the show. I love the music and I wanted to make the show successful. Why not put some work into it, c'mon (laughs).

SV: Like all the other things you're doing! You are also one of the most accessible and interactive artists out there. You go out of your way to connect with the fans, media and industry people. You baked cookies for people at radio stations, you hang out with fans after shows, you talk to media people at times that are way outside business hours like now. You see indie artists and newer ones doing this but some of the more established signed artists tend to pull back and just say they'll let the record company and the publicist handle things.
MA: To me, if you're going to make a record you've gotta be behind it. If you really believe in your music you're going to get out there and play and get in front of people and talk about it because it's what's going on in your life. I couldn't just hand it over to other people then go on my way That's just not my nature.

SV: You've been doing concerts and signings for the new CD. you've got the radio show and I saw on your website that you've been doing some dates overseas too. What do you have in the works for the rest of the year.
MA: I'm going to Russia to do some shows and I'm going to be touring all over. We've got a huge schedule in America and we go to do the overseas shows. We did Istanbul, and Bucharest, last year we did Japan.  It's interesting that international is opening up like it is. I hope more of that comes up. And I'll be doing the Christmas tour with Peter White and Rick Braun again this year. I think we have 25 shows booked already and it's going to be incredible like it always is. They are great guys to be on the road with and I love Christmas music. This is our sixth year doing it and it's like you and the audience are just close friends enjoying these Christmas songs we all love.

SV: It will be fun to see you on the road and at the Christmas show again, thank you for being willing to take the risk to create such wonderful intimate music and congratulations on the early success on the Stars CD!