  |
|
|
 |
| In Hi-Fi Stereo |
| Mindi Abair |
| első megjelenés éve: 2010 |
|
| (2010)
|
|
CD |
| 5.421 Ft
|
|
| 1. | Any Way You Wanna
|
| 2. | All Star
|
| 3. | L'Espirit Nouveau
|
| 4. | Get Right
|
| 5. | Be Beautiful
|
| 6. | Down for the Count
|
| 7. | Girl's Night Out
|
| 8. | Let the Whole World Know (Sing Your Song)
|
| 9. | It's A Man's, Man's, Man's World
|
| 10. | Take Me Home
|
| 11. | The Alley
|
Jazz / Contemporary Jazz, Crossover Jazz
Chris Szczech - Assistant
Constanze Lindsay Han - Stylist
Kennie Takahashi - Mixing
Larissa Collins - Art Direction
Michael Gassel - Package Layout
Mindi Abair - Producer
Paul Blakemore - Mastering
Paul Castro - Hair Stylist, Make-Up
Rex Rideout - Producer
Richard Barron - Engineer
Seth Presant - Assistant
Any artist who takes his or her craft seriously will inevitably reach a point on the journey when history can no longer be overlooked. The direct line between the music of now and the music of then becomes too important to ignore, and the riches of generations past are suddenly rediscovered - and eventually reinterpreted for a new era.
Saxophonist Mindi Abair has reached that critical juncture. After more than a decade of performing, songwriting and recording, she has taken a step back from the more polished sensibilities of contemporary jazz and embraced the sounds of past decades - specifically the '60s and early '70s, a period widely regarded as the golden age of R&B, soul and funk. The result is In Hi-Fi Stereo. The album captures the raw and edgy aesthetic of that golden age, when a slab of vinyl could instantaneously put band and listener together in the same room and establish a visceral and enduring connection. Loaded with infectious grooves generated by a high-caliber crew of players, In Hi-Fi Stereo rekindles that spark for a new generation of ears.
"This album is a reflection of some of the older, more soulful records I've been listening to in the last couple years," says Abair, firing off a list of favorites that include Al Green, Alain Toussaint, Junior Walker, King Curtis, Archie Bell and the Drells, and many others. "I think it all kind of seeped into me over time. I wanted to move away from a more produced sound and just get into the studio and play. It didn't have to be perfect. It didn't have to be shiny and new. It's not an intellectual record. It's a fun, feel-good record inspired by some of those great sounds and grooves from that period, but recast for a modern audience."
Co-produced by Abair and R&B mainstay Rex Rideout (who also lays down keyboards on nearly every track), In Hi-Fi Stereo includes a roster of players representing the old school as well as the new. In addition to Abair's touring band, the album is seasoned with a number of guest players: veteran drummer James Gadson (a frequent session player for Bill Withers, Amos Lee and Nikka Costa), bassist Reggie McBride (Aretha, Rickie Lee Jones and Keb' Mo'), Mindi's Berklee classmate and friend Lalah Hathaway, nominated 2010 R&B Female Vocalist of the year, Ryan Collins and David Ryan Harris.
Hanging with talented musicians is nothing new for Abair. Her paternal grandmother was an opera singer, and her father was a saxophonist and B3 player in a blue-eyed soul group called The Entertainers - a gig that kept the whole family on the road for several years throughout the early '70s. By the time the band broke up and the Abairs put down roots in St. Petersburg, Florida, five-year-old Mindi had already demonstrated musical aspirations of her own by taking up the piano.
She made the switch to saxophone in the fourth grade, and took part in every band program available in elementary, middle and high school. After a year at the University of North Florida, she transferred to Berklee, where she graduated magna cum laude with a degree in woodwind performance.
Abair recalls some wise counseling she received during her college years: "My saxophone teacher told me every week, 'You have to start your own band. Don't try to be someone else. Don't practice a bunch of David Sanborn licks or Wayne Shorter licks. Go out and be your own person.' It was the best advice anyone could have given me."
She took the advice and ran with it, all the way to the opposite coast. She landed in Los Angeles, where she began a dues-paying process that lasted nearly a decade and included touring gigs with keyboardists John Tesh and Bobby Lyle and guitarist Jonathan Butler. When she was home from the road, she booked her own band in just about any club that would have them. And on those occasions when none would, she played on the streets of Santa Monica. "I didn't want to wait tables when I had a degree in music," she says. "I'd take my horn down to 3rd Street Promenade and just play. I paid my rent for quite a few months by doing that."
Abair turns the James Brown classic, "It's a Man's Man's Man's World," on its head with the help of Lalah Hathaway's silky vocal delivery. "Lalah thinks like an instrumentalist, and she has always made her way around a song that way," says Abair. "So for me, as an instrumentalist, that was ideal. We wanted to record this song as a duet. We didn't want to follow the typical structure of one person singing the song and the other person playing the saxophone. We made it more of a back-and-forth experience."
Start to finish, In Hi-Fi Stereo is something classic and something new at the same time. "It's a vintage sounding record, a modern take on a very classic sound," she says. "We didn't make your father's jazz record. We didn't set out to make an 'old' record. It's not about doing what's been done before. It's about drawing on what and who inspires you, and bringing it into your world and making it your own - and then putting it out there for a new generation of people who love jazz and soul."
More than a few jazz critics have been quick to dismiss Mindi Abair as just another lightweight contributor to the Kenny GDave KozRichard Elliot school of bland smooth jazz saxophone playing. But even though Abair has recorded her share of generic fluff, the alto and soprano saxophonist does have chops -- and In Hi-Fi Stereo, it turns out, is a pleasant surprise because her chops usually aren't wasted this time. Most of In Hi-Fi Stereo, in fact, is really more soul-jazz than smooth jazz. Abair has plenty of room to stretch out and blow on this 2010 release, and her saxophone playing isn't smothered by layers and layers of unnecessary production. Actually, the album's title says a lot about what Abair was going for. The phrase "in hi-fidelity stereo" was used a lot back in the 1960s, and this 48-minute CD often recalls the improvisatory soul-jazz recordings of the '60s and ‘70s. Direct or indirect influences like the Crusaders, the Brecker Brothers, David Sanborn, Tom Scott's L.A. Express, Grover Washington, Jr., David "Fathead" Newman, and Hank Crawford serve Abair well on an album that is mostly instrumental but also contains a few vocal offerings. The most memorable is a remake of James Brown's "It's a Man's Man's Man's World," which boasts a bluesy performance by singer Lalah Hathaway (daughter of the late soul legend Donny Hathaway). And the album's weakest moments come when the thin-voiced Abair tries to sing. Of course, having a thin voice doesn't mean that one cannot provide meaningful vocals but Abair's vocals have been flat-out embarrassing at times (in 2006, she absolutely butchered Rickie Lee Jones' "It Must Be Love"). Thankfully, Abair doesn't do a lot of singing on In Hi-Fi Stereo. She does, however, do a lot of saxophone playing on this album -- most of it gritty, soulful, and pleasingly inspired. And 90 percent of the time, In Hi-Fi Stereo is an album that Abair can be proud of. ~ Alex Henderson, All Music Guide
Mindi Abair
Active Decade: '00s
Born: May 31, 1969
Genre: Jazz
Styles: Instrumental Pop, Jazz-Pop, Contemporary Jazz, Crossover Jazz, Adult Alternative Pop/Rock, Smooth Jazz, Alternative/Indie Rock
Born on tour into a musical family, Mindi Abair was playing piano by the age of five. Within three years, she was playing saxophone and writing songs. She made her way through Berklee performing all kinds of music from jazz to rock and R&B. Upon moving back to Los Angeles, Abair started her own band. She also took on session work with artists as diverse as the Gap Band, Adam Sandler, Mandy Moore, John Tesh, Teena Marie, and the Backstreet Boys. During this time, she worked on creating her own sound and released her debut disc in 1999. The Backstreet Boys connection really paid off for her, and her website and CD (entitled Love) took off. The year 2000 saw the release of the follow-up, Always and Never the Same, and shortly thereafter Abair signed with GRP Records. A sophomore effort, It Just Happens That Way, was issued in 2003. "Lucy's," "Save the Last Dance," and the album's title track went on to impact Top Ten radio. A year later, Abair returned with Come as You Are, her second set produced with her writing partner, Matthew Hager. In 2006, Abair released Life Less Ordinary, which featured guest vocals from Lalah Hathaway and Keb' Mo', and also performed at the Governors Ball, the official Oscars afterparty. The following year, she appeared on guitarist Peter White's -- with whom she had performed frequently -- Christmas album, but 2008 saw a return to her solo material (and an introduction to Abair as a singer) with Stars. In 2010, Abair delivered the soul-jazz inspired In Hi-Fi Stereo which once again featured a mix of instrumental jazz with a few Abair vocal numbers.
---Gary Hill, All Music Guide |
|
CD bolt, zenei DVD, SACD, BLU-RAY lemez vásárlás és rendelés - Klasszikus zenei CD-k és DVD-különlegességek |  | | Webdesign - Forfour Design |
|
|
