Mindi Abair's 2003 major label debut, It Just Happens That Way, was groundbreaking.  Come As You Are was a fine follow up that expanded on the stylistic themes of the debut CD.  Both were consistent, enjoyable projects that brought pop-rock sensibilities to a genre that was mired in riff driven moodscapes and washes of string synths.  Their success opened the door for other artists who were eager to create a hotter, younger, fresher sound.  If that was the case with the first two I can't wait to see the aftershocks from this one.  Life Less Ordinary doesn't just represent a huge leap forward for Abair and longtime collaborator and producer Matthew Hager, it is a 45-minute showcase of everything this music can be when an artist is enough of an original to shake off the clichés and just play it by heart. 

Explaining the title, Abair said that this music was a snapshot of her life over the last year or so – a time of unexpected hurricanes and unexpected love, new beginnings, endings and the ups and downs and growing and learning that make life anything but ordinary.  That is the emotional foundation for this music and you can feel it in every song.  She is playing at the top of her game, with the power and intensity that is usually reserved for the stage.  This time around she and producer Hager have traded the acoustic guitar chordings that were the trademark of her radio hits for electric guitar leads, electronica-inspired grooves, and tightly written infectious melody lines.  The short a cappella sax line that opens the CD establishes the theme: she’s not playing it safe here.  That sax vamp continues into the trancey, clubby groove on "Do You Miss Me.”  The highlight of Mindi's live performances is when she plays low, funky and mean (in the best sense of the word).  She comes at that from two sides on this project: "The Joint" is a raucous late night barroom brawl; "Slinky" is sparse and chilled with down and dirty guitar lines sneaking in and out of the backbeat.  On "Rain" her expressive playing takes you to the heart of the losses experienced by those who were impacted by hurricane Katrina, then builds into a hopefully anthemic chorus.  The CD wraps up with another ballad, “Far Away,” that perfectly captures the sense of longing for people and places that are far away.

There are three songs here that continue to evolve Mindi's most identifiable style: tightly written instrumentals with euphoric choruses that keep you hitting the repeat button.  "True Blue" with its joyous vocal chorus, "Bloom" a great singer-songwriter type pop song where the sax sings instead.  It gives the listener room to fill in the spaces with thoughts or even words that come from your own life.  On a CD full of excellent songs, "Long Ride Home" is my all out favorite.  Up-tempo and exuberant with overdubbed saxes playing counterpoint melodies and a loopy guitar track, it simply soars.  For people like me who like to play songs like this and drive fast, it's a speeding ticket waiting to happen.

There are two vocals, both totally original and off the beaten path.  Her cover of Rickie Lee Jones' quirky, jazzy "Must Be Love" is a gift from left field.  She manages to capture some of Jones' vocal inflections without becoming imitative.  Lalah Hathaway provides a lovely, understated harmony vocal and Mindi’s soprano sax weaves around (of all things) a tasty dobro solo from blues-rock legend Keb’Mo‘.  "Ordinary Love," an original that celebrates the everyday joys of spending time with the one you love, blends breezy Brazilian flavor with contemporary trippy nuances. 

While influential men sit in tall buildings and crunch numbers on their computers trying to over-think a way to rescue the Smooth Jazz genre from the sonic rocking chair, there are several artists who are doing it on the road and in the studio right under their noses.  Mindi Abair is a textbook case.  Her music is not about genre, format, or formula.  It's simply the music Mindi and her collaborators have created, recorded, and played for enthusiastic crowds all over the world.  It's music like this that can redefine the genre: showing several generations of listeners that in the right hands, smooth jazz music can be anything but ordinary! 

- Shannon West