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| Come As You Are |
| Mindi Abair |
első megjelenés éve: 2004
51 perc |
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| (2006)
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CD |
| 4.161 Ft
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| 1. | Come As You Are
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| 2. | Shine
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| 3. | Every Time
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| 4. | Head Over Heels
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| 5. | Make a Wish
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| 6. | Sticks and Stones
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| 7. | I Can Remember
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| 8. | New Shoes
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| 9. | High Five
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| 10. | You'll Never Know
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| 11. | Cyan
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Jazz / Jazz-Pop; Crossover Jazz; Contemporary Jazz; Smooth Jazz
Come As You Are is the title of my newest CD, and I think the title honestly represents what this CD is all about. It's a collection of songs that I wrote over the past year, each of which represents different experiences I've had since recording my first CD.
When I began recording my second CD, I really wanted to stretch out more...explore different aspects of who I am as a musician and composer. I wanted the people involved in this CD to be the people I had come up the ranks playing with. So in January of 2004 I started walking across the street every morning to my friend Matthew Hager's house to write. We'd sit in his living room or out on the porch. We would come in with different ideas some days and work from those ideas, or some days we'd just start playing and we'd record whatever came out. It was a very organic process, and a really fun, relaxed way to make music. I found on my last CD that sometimes the song demo had a magic that we could never recapture once we went into a big studio to officially record the song for the CD. We ended up keeping many of my demo tracks. They were vibier to me because I wasn't thinking when I recorded them. I was just feeling this new song that I had just written. So for this new CD I set up camp in Matthew's bathroom with a microphone and a few pillows on the walls to soak up the sound.
We'd write and record the parts as we went along. I think it gives spontaneity to the parts and to the music. We weren't clock-watching in a big studio. We were having fun experimenting and recording our thoughts completely in the moment.
Come As You Are is the title track. It's a very carefree lighthearted acoustic guitar driven song. It was one of the first songs I wrote for this CD, and I think it's reminiscent of my last CD in many ways. It carries on where It Just Happens That Way left off.
"Shine" is a funky instrumental track. We called it our "Sanford and Son" because of it's party in a junkyard groove.
The 3rd track is "Every Time". It's a vocal track that opens with a cool acoustic guitar line that weaves throughout the song. I ended up recording a soprano saxophone solo in it, and it seemed to fit perfectly! It's the first vocal song I wrote for this CD, and I wanted something sentimental that was fun to sing.
"Head Over Heels" was actually demoed for It Just Happens That Way. At the last minute, we decided that we had too many songs, and it was cut. A few of my friends wouldn't stop bugging me about that song. They had the demo we recorded, and they couldn't stop playing it! So they made me revisit it and consider it for this record. I listened back, and I loved it! We re-recorded it and it fit perfectly on this CD.
"Make A Wish" is the fifth track, and it starts out with a vocal line that alludes to the opening alto saxophone melody. It's always sounded like a lullaby to me.
"Sticks and Stones" was a really fun departure. I played soprano saxophone for this song, and it's a funky, less-is-more arrangement with moody horn lines and an in-your-face groove. Mike Landau (Joni Mitchell, James Taylor) added some amazing guitar sound effects during my solo.
"I Can Remember" is the second vocal track, and I dedicated it to all the friends I lost last year. It's a very optimistic song about losing ones we love, going on and surviving while taking a piece of them with you and carrying on their memory. It's a very special song to me. I had my father play on "New Shoes". He plays saxophone and keyboards, and has been my biggest influence musically. I needed a tenor saxophonist for this song, and he's the best I know. It was amazing to have him in the studio. This song has a Pink Panther/Dave Brubeck quality to it, and it's an ode to more traditional jazz. I called my college roommate Karen Guthery, to help arrange it for a big band. It starts out with me playing alto saxophone and Stan Sargeant (The Tonight Show) playing upright bass. Russell Ferrante (The Yellowjackets) enters playing piano, and it slowly builds until it's a full big band. It's sneaky.
The next song "High Five" I co-wrote with my friend Ty Stevens. It's a fun jam song. Ricky Peterson (David Sanborn, Prince) plays Wurlitzer and B3 and takes an amazing solo. I had so much fun recording my saxophone track that if you listen carefully you can hear me laugh at the end of the song. I assumed we'd erase my laugh, but Matthew insisted that it was cool and we kept it.
"You'll Never Know" is the third vocal track, and it's a lighthearted laid back song about love and obsession. It's a very bare-boned arrangement, and when we recorded it it seemed like something was missing. I thought we'd have a guitar solo in the middle of it, but I ended up arranging a little horn section solo instead. We recorded it to sound like it was old and far away. I think it completes the song.
The last song is "Cyan". It's a moody ballad with electric guitar, soprano saxophone and a string quartet. I always loved how Billy Joel would end his albums with a song from his heart. I've adopted that, and so both of my CDs have ended with a heartfelt song. I called my long-time friend Julie Rogers to come in and play violin. She ended up arranging the strings for a quartet with Matthew Hager. It was beautiful. It feels like you're in the room with us as we play. I love that. If you let the CD keep playing......there is a hidden track. I called up Russell Ferrante and asked him to write with me. He's been such an influence on me as a writer and player. I'm a huge fan. Amazingly, he said "Yes", and we wrote this song which I feel is a perfect mix of both of our personalities. It's fast and fun and leans very traditional jazz.
This CD is a journey through a lot of different aspects of who I am. It represents a lot of the influences and inspiration that brought me to this point in my career. I'm not the artist that will make the same CD again and again. I like exploring and making the music that's in my heart at the time. I think that's what an album should be...a snapshot of where you are and what you're thinking at a certain point. I love when artists give you a piece of themselves in their music and show you a piece of their soul somehow. I strived for that on this CD...to open up and give as much of myself as I could in every way...in the composition and performance of each song. I hope that shines through.
Mindi Abair - soprano saxophone, alto saxophone, flute, keyboards, percussion, vocal
Matthew Hager - guitar, keyboards, bass, percussion, programming, background vocals
Ricky Petersen - piano, organ, wurlitzer organ, Fender Rhodes
Russell Ferrante - piano
Mike Landau - guitar
Dan Marfisi - guitar
Ty Stevens - guitar
Stan Sargeant - bass
Steve Ferrone - drums
Jamey Tate - drums
Luis Conte - percussion |
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