Smooth jazz performed her way

Suzie Harrison

She started playing music when she was very young; she had an

affinity for it and has been playing ever since.

Mindi Abair will bring her musical talent back to Newport Beach,

performing at the Wave’s Hyatt Newporter Jazz Festival May 18.

“I started playing sax when I was 8 -- I grew up on the road with

my dad’s band,” Abair said. “I’ve been playing piano since 5.”

She’s looking forward to playing the jazz festival this year,

having attended it as a fan in the past.

“I played the Hyatt Newporter last year. It will be the second

year playing it, but the first time with my band,” Abair said. “I’ve

always made a living playing. I’ve been in other bands, my whole

career being everyone else’s musician, sax player singer or

whatever.”

The show is one of many stops she’ll have this summer.

“Since my CD came out a couple of months ago, we’ve been really

hitting the road,” Abair said. “It’s a fun new phase. I wrote the

lyrics, the music was my vision, and we used my name.”

The CD “It Just Happens That Way” debuted at No. 3 on the

contemporary jazz chart, and the album’s first single, “Lucy’s,” is

the No. 1 song in the nation on jazz radio -- and has been for eight

consecutive weeks.

The single is about her favorite hangout on Melrose Avenue, Lucy

El Adobe Cafe, where she said she practically lives when she’s home

in L.A.

“It’s a Mexican restaurant across from Paramount Pictures. It’s

around the corner,” Abair said. “Everyone knows it. It’s a point of

interest. Lucy is this cool woman, a mother figure to a lot of

people, me being one.”

“Lucy” is an instrumental song with one line of chorus.

“No lyrics were slated. It’s me basically singing to the melody

with music,” Abair said. “When we were writing it, it sounded really

cool, so we kept it.”

The album has worked for the band.

“Now, to be in a position to be out with my band to play my own

music, it’s pretty amazing,” Abair said. “It’s my own concoction of

jazz instruments meets vocal and pop.”

The flavor of the album is mostly pop mixed with jazz, having come

from a pop background. The acoustic guitar and cool drum loops

interspersed might not be elements one would expect in jazz, she

said.

“Someone said when ‘Lucy’s’ comes on the radio, it’s a little rock

‘n’ roll in the jazz scenario, so it definitely stands apart,” Abair

said.

Abair has performed with Jonathan Butler, Mandy Moore, Adam

Sandler and the Backstreet Boys.

“It’s fun to play with all these people. It adds depth,” Abair

said.

She is glad to have those experiences because she can take them

with her.

“The people at the Hyatt Newporter know me on stage with pink or

black hair. Now it’s blond,” Abair said. “I’m the girl in jazz who

breaks the rules.”

The festival will run all weekend, with Abair’s performance at 1

p.m. May 18. The Newporter is at 1107 Jamboree Road in Newport Beach.