Stars is Mindi Abair's fifth album. It was released on May 6, 2008, by Peak Records. The album peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard Contemporary Jazz chart, and No. 7 on the Jazz albums chart. Two songs peaked on Billboard's Smooth Jazz Airplay chart, "Smile" at No. 9 and "Out of the Blue" at No. 16.
Critical reception
Jonathan Widran of AllMusic calls the album, "one of 2008's most popular and dynamic urban contemporary jazz releases."
Brian Soergel of JazzTimes writes, "Abair clearly has a new market in sight with Stars" and "Her voice certainly holds up, with its earnest wistfulness carrying appealingly autobiographical songs about love and longing."
Track listing All songs written by Mindi Abair and Matthew Hager, except where noted.
Musicians Mindi Abair – vocals (1–6, 8, 10), acoustic piano (1), alto saxophone (1, 2, 3, 5, 9, 11), soprano saxophone (2, 4, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11), flute (2), keyboards (6, 7), percussion (8), vocal arrangements (10), all saxophones (11) Ricky Peterson – organ (2, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11), acoustic piano (3, 6, 8, 10, 11), keyboards (7), Wurlitzer electric piano (7) Jason Steele – string synthesizer (2) Matthew Hager – electric guitars (1, 3, 4, 8, 9, 10), acoustic guitar (1, 4, 6), bass (1–6, 9, 10), drum programming (1–4, 6–9), keyboards (2, 4, 5, 6), acoustic piano (2, 4), string arrangements (2), tambourine (3, 9), backing vocals (4), percussion (5, 7), sound effects (5) Dwight Sills – electric guitars (2, 4, 7, 8, 10, 11), guitar solo (4), acoustic guitar (8) John Taylor – acoustic guitar (5) Shawn Davis – bass (7, 8) Abe Laboriel Jr. – drums (2, 4, 5, 8, 9, 11), tambourine (4, 8, 11) Ryan Dankanich – baritone saxophone (2, 6, 8) Steve Tirpak – trombone (2, 6, 8), trumpet (2, 6, 8), horn arrangements (2, 6, 8) Richard Dodd – cello (2, 4) Charlean Carmon – backing vocals (2, 4, 6, 7, 8, 10), DeeDee Foster – backing vocals (2, 4, 6, 7, 8, 10), Kenya Hathaway – backing vocals (2, 4, 6, 7, 8, 10)
Production Andi Howard – executive producer Mark Wexler – executive producer Matthew Hager – producer, recording Steve Sykes – recording, mixing Josh Blanchard – assistant engineer Brendan Dekora – assistant engineer Stephen Marcussen – mastering Valerie Ince – label coordinator Patty Palazzo – art direction Reisig & Taylor Photography – photography
Track information and credits adapted from Discogs and AllMusic, then verified from the album's liner notes.
Charts Chart (2003) Peakposition Contemporary Jazz (Billboard)
Singles Title Date Chart Peakposition"Smile" May 16, 2008 Smooth Jazz Airplay 9"Out of the Blue" February 20, 2009 Smooth Jazz Airplay 16"Stars" August 23, 2008 Billboard Adult Contemporary 29
References
External links Artist Official Site Peak Records Official Site