Berklee Today: Mindi Abair '91
Mindi Abair '90
Photo by Jeff Bender
"It was a crazy thing to see Herbie Hancock's album under mine on that chart," says saxophonist Mindi Abair. "I just about fell over." The chart she refers to is the Billboard contemporary jazz chart, where her third and latest Verve/GRP album, Life Less Ordinary, entered in the number one spot.
It's one more reason why last year was indeed "less ordinary" for Abair. In addition to solidifying her status as a staple of smooth jazz and contemporary adult radio stations and logging thousands of miles for appearances at festivals, clubs, theaters, and music cruises to support the new disc, Abair married composer Jason Steele. "The material on the CD reflects the things I felt last year," she says. "I wrote 'Rain' for the victims of Hurricane Katrina and 'The Joint' for the old funky clubs I used to play in Boston. In the love songs, I found that I thought differently about love after getting married."