MINDI?ABAIR will be part of a stellar line-up at the upcoming CIBC First Caribbean Sugar Isle Jazz Festival.
This smooth jazz saxophonist is a graduate of the Berklee College of Music. Abair started her career in Los Angeles, a move she made to fully capitalize on her formal training. She quickly got the attention of some of the biggest musicians in a variety of genres and is one of the most flexible saxophone players on the music scene today.
With a solid top 40 pop background she seamlessly transitioned to jazz in 2003. That same year she released the Just Happens That Way jazz album which stayed in the top 10 of Billboard’s contemporary jazz charts for 19 consecutive weeks.
Billboard Magazine named it the top contemporary jazz record that year. Since then she has enjoyed a number of top 10 tracks on the Billboard contemporary jazz charts.
Abair has toured extensively and recorded with Jonathan Butler, Back Street Boys and Duran Duran, to name a few. During the 2011 and 2012 seasons of American Idol, Barbadians would have seen and heard her backing some of the most popular contestants and gained tremendous favour with judge and the lead singer of Aero Smith, Steven Tyler. She also plays with the CBS Orchestra on the Late Night Show with David Letterman.
Barbadians will get a chance to experience her funky, soulful, feel-good sound when she appears on the final night of the festival at the gymnasium of the Garfield Sobers Sports Complex on Sunday, June 3, at 8 o’clock.
