Mindi Abair often gets lumped into the smooth-jazz genre due to her melodic saxophone playing. But while many smooth folks lean on thin synthesizer tones, skeletal beats, and (at the genre's most clichéd moments) chimes, Abair fronts a band capable of playing pop, rock, R&B, soul, and blues. That's never more apparent than on Wild Heart, her seventh album, which also features such heavy guests as Joe Perry, Gregg Allman, and Trombone Shorty (another jazz musician not afraid to rock out), as well as soul legend Booker T. Jones and bluesman Keb’ Mo. She continues to prove herself a soulful singer on the rocking “I Can’t Lose” and the rootsy “I’ll Be Your Home,” and she sets aside her sax to duet with Allman on “Just Say When,” which they wrote together. Abair actually collaborates throughout this set of new tunes, either working with her guests, outside songwriters, or her regular pianist Dave Yarden, who teams up with her for the standouts “Haute Sauce” and the noirish “Kiddo’s Revenge.” "Soothing" isn't a word that comes to mind here, and that’s just fine for Abair and her many fans.