Mindi Abair’s “I Can’t Wait for Christmas” with special guests Vincent Ingala, Adam Hawley and Lindsey Webster

Saxophonist and two-time Grammy nominee Mindi Abair is a self-described “Christmas dork.” She has been a frequent visitor to Stuart, having performed several times in “A Peter White Christmas.” “Growing up, my family would get together for Christmas every year,” she said. “My mother would cook stuffing and rhubarb pie and we’d all play and sing together. My grandmother gave me great advice early on: ‘If you play the piano, you can be the life of the party.’ She was an opera singer and would sit and play piano and Christmas songs. My father would take over and play more rock/blues/jazz versions of Christmas songs and we’d all sing. Of course, I’d pull out my sax and play along with my father. What an amazing way to grow up, with music surrounding me and weaving into my life so seamlessly from a young age.”

You might recognize Mindi as the featured saxophonist on American Idol, sitting in with Paul Shaffer on The Late Show with David Letterman and on The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon or as the first solo saxophonist touring with Aerosmith since 1973. She has garnered 12 No. 1 radio hits in the jazz and blues world, two No. 1 spots on the Billboard Contemporary Jazz Album chart and two No. 3 spots on the Billboard Blues Album chart. In 2019, Mindi was nominated by the Blues Music Awards as the Best Instrumentalist: Horn, and won the L.A. Critics Award for Best Holiday Album for All I Got for Christmas is the Blues.

A popular touring artist and collaborator Mindi has toured and/or recorded with Joe Bonamassa, Smokey Robinson, Joe Perry, Keb’ Mo’, Max Weinberg, Dave Koz, Adam Sandler, Trombone Shorty, Jimmy Webb and a host of others. She has also created the website, www.prettygoodforagirl.net, to celebrate women and has served almost 10 years as an L.A. Chapter governor, president and national trustee for the Recording Academy.

Twenty-something and with matinee idol good look, Vincent Ingala has already been at the top of the Billboard Contemporary Jazz charts. He is a wizard instrumentally, playing everything from the tenor sax to the piano, drums, guitar, bass and lead vocals. He was handpicked to open for Dave Koz when he was 16 and has collaborated with or opened for Chris Botti, Jonathan Butler and Kim Waters. He is known for his consummate musicianship and fun-loving stage present. His most recent release, Fire & Desire, dropped in September 2021. He, too, has fond memories of Christmas. “I would sneak downstairs multiple times with my flashlight to get a sneak peek before the sun rose on Christmas morning,” he said. “Memories such as these I will always continue to hold in my heart and they are what make Christmas a very magical time of year.”

Guitarist Adam Hawley is an innovative artist, composer and band leader. He was named Smooth Jazz News and JazzTrax Debut Artist of the Year. His first two albums, Double Vision and Just the Beginning spawned an incredible six No. 1 hits, a major feat for a new artist. He followed that up with Escape, which had the 2020 Billboard song of the Year, “To the Top.” His latest album, Risin’ Up, features Steve Cole, Vincent Ingala, Julian Vaughn, Riley Richard and Kat Hawley. Hawley holds a doctorate of musical arts from the University of Southern California.

Singer/songwriter Lindsay Webster grew up in an artist community in Woodstock, New York and grew up listening to her parents’ Jimi Hendrix, the Beatles and Elvis Costello LPs. She pursued medical school before settling on music and made history in 2016 with the original “Fool Me Once,” the first vocal-driven No 1 to top the Billboard Contemporary Jazz chart since Sade did it in 2010-and she beat Sade’s three-week run with a four-week stay. She was crowned Billboard’s “Contemporary Jazz Artist of the Year” for two consecutive years and her range has been compared to Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston and Minnie Riperton. Soultracks said that “If Carole King and Sade had a kid, she would be Lindsey Webster.”

It will be a great holiday show. All these great artists want for Christmas is you.