Everyone,

Thought I'd throw this gorgeous line out there.

"Mindi Abair signs with Peak Records."

It's true. Abair has signed with Peak Records, a subsidiary of the Concord Music Group.

Her first album for Peak will come out in April 2008. The tentative title for the release is "Stars."

Abair's next home had been a hot question on everyone's minds — since she parted ways with the Verve Music Group earlier this year.

Abair will join Jessy J as female saxophonists on the label.

Peak now has the deepest and, perhaps, most talented roster of sax players in the game today — Eric Marienthal, Paul Taylor, Gerald Albright, Abair and Jessy J.

"Stars" will be a follow-up to "Life Less Ordinary" from 2006.

Abair is also part of a new album called "A Peter White Christmas," which has been released by ARTizen Records.

The "Stars" CD will feature all-original compositions (that means no covers) penned by Abair with musical partners Matt Hager, Ty Stevens and John Taylor.

Signed,

Eric Viccaro
Peak Records No. 1 fan!

This finally fulfills that daydream fantasy of mine: Wouldn't it be cool of Mindi was on Peak? Now, she is. Welcome aboard, Mindi.

just a general question.

Why do we have to continuously say things like "female" saxophonist? I don't see us describing the males of the genre in the same way.

Kat,

I was just saying here that she joins fellow female saxophonist Jessy J at Peak.

That's all.

I think it's so awesome that both Mindi and Jessy are on the same label! This is wonderful.

Signed,

Eric Viccaro

and you did it again! ROTFLMAO.

I didn't notice anyone saying that when Gerald Albright joined the label - he joined fellow male saxophonists Eric Marienthal and Paul Taylor.

That's my point. My wish is that we stop the gender specifications and focus on the music. It's not like it's 1978 when women were still trying to break thru as non-vocalists.

I'll try to clear it up:
Mindi joins Peak's lineup of saxophonists that includes Eric Marienthal, Gerald Albright, Paul Taylor, and Jessy J.

How was that?

I'm wondering why it matters that she's with Peak.
I mean, who cares - apart from the folks who make money by having Mindi and Jessy, et al, on the label?

I think it matters when an artist switches labels and moves.

There are musicians who can bring instant name recognition to the label and increase the visibility and the street value/credibility of the label. This is especially true of imprint labels (subsidiaries).

I understand that and agree - to a point. It's just that when I see topics like this I wonder if it's really about the artist/music or if it's promoting the label.
I don't mean to sound like a critic of Peak; the label has several of my favorite artists. But this is, by my count, the third Peak-related topic we've had here and the second in recent months. A while back, the discussion was about a tour lineup of Peak artists.
I find these plugs for Peak to be very commercial.
Eric wrote: "Peak now has the deepest and, perhaps, most talented roster of sax players in the game today — Eric Marienthal, Paul Taylor, Gerald Albright, Abair and Jessy J."
Isn't that a bit disrespectful toward Heads Up's Jay Beckenstein, Bob Mintzer, Candy Dulfer and Dan Kuramoto, and Apria Records' Woody Witt and Ada Rovatti? And what about Bob Militello, Kenny Garrett, Joshua Redman, Pamela Williams, Branford Marsalis, Denis Diblasio, Kirk Whalum, David Sanborn?
Sorry, but this has the look and feel of a plug for Peak and not necessarily to bring attention to Mindi Abair's music.

My opinion for what it's worth: I'd much rather see a person like Eric, who has spent some time here and has a lot of passion for the music, making these announcements than some random marketing student interning for a label (as I ranted about in Off Topic) who is just going through a list of artists to post about in forums they know nothing about.

I like to hear who is going where. When saxophonists-with-no-qualifiers join a roster we have an interest in collectively, that's a topic IMHO.