When Paul McDonald performed Bob Seger's ‘Old Time Rock 'N' Roll’ on Wednesday evening’s American Idol live show judge Steven Tyler asked the question to which 26 million America viewers needed an answer but one that the entire smooth jazz had already worked out. “Never mind you, Paul, who is your sax player?”
That sax player was none other than Mindi Abair. She had been enlisted by guest producer Don Was, whom she met several years ago at the Newport Jazz Festival. In fact Mindi is a woman instrumentalist in a man's world, with her own hits on the Billboard charts alongside jazz greats like Herbie Hancock and George Benson. She has long dedicated herself to education and breaking down musical barriers, and along the way she has found her own voice as a solo artist. Her latest CD is In Hi-Fi Stereo.
Predictably Mindi owned the Idol stage with her typically feisty performance and even though she wasn’t given a name credit there is sure to be a whole new audience checking out her music in the weeks to come.