Chris Botti
Encyclopedia
Christopher Stephen "Chris" Botti , is an American trumpeter and composer. In 2007, Botti was nominated for two Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...

s including Best Pop Instrumental Album. On December 4, 2009, he was nominated for three more Grammy Awards including Best Pop Instrumental Album and Best Long Form Music Video. Three of his albums have reached the #1 position on the Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...

jazz albums chart.

Coming to prominence with the 2001 recording of his Night Sessions
Night Sessions
-Personnel:* Chris Botti - Trumpet* Camilla - Vocal * Billy Childs - Keyboards* Vinnie Colaiuta - Drums* Shawn Colvin - Vocal * Luis Conte - Percussion* Shane Fontayne - Guitar* Lani Groves - Background Vocal* Jimmy Johnson - Bass...

CD, Botti established a reputation as a versatile musician in both jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

 and pop music for his ability to fuse both styles together.

Early life

He was born in Portland, Oregon
Portland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...

 and raised in Corvallis
Corvallis, Oregon
Corvallis is a city located in central western Oregon, United States. It is the county seat of Benton County and the principal city of the Corvallis, Oregon Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Benton County. As of the 2010 United States Census, the population was 54,462....

 and spent two years of his childhood growing up in Italy. His earliest musical influence was his mother, a classically trained pianist and part-time piano teacher.

He started playing the trumpet at 9-years-old and committed to the instrument at age 12, when he heard Miles Davis
Miles Davis
Miles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz,...

 play "My Funny Valentine
My Funny Valentine
"My Funny Valentine" is a show tune from the 1937 Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart musical Babes in Arms in which it was introduced by former child star Mitzi Green...

."

In 1983, he was selected as a member of McDonalds’ All American High School Jazz band which marked his first Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....

 performance.

At the age of 17, he ended up at Mount Hood Community College
Mount Hood Community College
Mt. Hood Community College is a public community college in Gresham, Oregon, United States, named after Mount Hood. Opened in 1966, MHCC enrolls nearly 26,000 students each year and offers classes at the main campus in Gresham, the MHCC Maywood Park Center, and evening education centers at area...

 in Gresham, Oregon by convincing his high school to allow him to fulfill his remaining senior year credits there. Botti constructed the scenario so that he could also play at Portland clubs in the evening. Mount Hood's program was headed by Larry McVey, whose band had come to be a proving ground and regular stop for Stan Kenton
Stan Kenton
Stanley Newcomb "Stan" Kenton was a pianist, composer, and arranger who led a highly innovative, influential, and often controversial American jazz orchestra. In later years he was widely active as an educator....

 and Mel Tormé
Mel Tormé
Melvin Howard Tormé , nicknamed The Velvet Fog, was an American musician, known for his jazz singing. He was also a jazz composer and arranger, a drummer, an actor in radio, film, and television, and the author of five books...

 when they were looking for new players. It was here Botti played alongside his friend, trombonist and future Academy Award nominated filmmaker, Todd Field
Todd Field
William Todd Field, known professionally as Todd Field is an American actor and writer/director. He has received three Academy Award nominations.-Background and personal life:...

. After graduating from high school, Botti studied under jazz educator David Baker and trumpet professor Bill Adam
William Adam (trumpeter)
William Adam is an American trumpeter, respected pedagogue, and Professor Emeritus at Indiana University. He was highly analytical as a teacher, but always avoided discussing the mechanical aspects of trumpet playing with a student. Instead he "taught" by demonstration and by explanation in terms...

 at Indiana University
Jacobs School of Music
The Jacobs School of Music of Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana, is a music conservatory established in 1921. Until 2005, it was known as the Indiana University School of Music...

. Botti was also the recipient of two grants from the National Endowment for the Arts
National Endowment for the Arts
The National Endowment for the Arts is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created by an act of the U.S. Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government. Its current...

 which allowed him to study with trumpeter Woody Shaw
Woody Shaw
Woody Shaw was an American jazz trumpeter, flugelhornist, cornetist, composer and band leader, often referred to as the "last innovator" in the jazz trumpet lineage...

 and saxophonist George Coleman
George Coleman
George Edward Coleman is an American hard bop saxophonist, bandleader, and composer, known chiefly for his work with Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock in the 1960s.-Biography:...

 during two consecutive summer breaks.

Early career

Botti left Indiana University during his senior year for short touring stints with Frank Sinatra and Buddy Rich. In 1985, he moved to New York City to hone his craft as a studio musician.

In 1990, he began a decade long touring and recording relationship with Paul Simon
Paul Simon
Paul Frederic Simon is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist.Simon is best known for his success, beginning in 1965, as part of the duo Simon & Garfunkel, with musical partner Art Garfunkel. Simon wrote most of the pair's songs, including three that reached number one on the US singles...

 which broadened his exposure to other singers. During that period, he also performed/recorded with Aretha Franklin, Natalie Cole, Bette Midler, Joni Mitchell, Natalie Merchant, Scritti Politti, Roger Daltrey and others.

On August 15, 1991, Botti performed with Paul Simon in New York’s Central Park as part of the The Rhythm of the Saints tour. The performance was commercially released as the Concert in the Park
Paul Simon's Concert in the Park, August 15, 1991
Paul Simon's Concert in the Park is a live album released in 1991 by Paul Simon. It provided a survey of his two most recent albums, Graceland and Rhythm of the Saints, and also drew liberally from his earlier songbook including a number of tunes from the Simon and Garfunkel era...

CD. While on tour with Simon, he met saxophonist Michael Brecker
Michael Brecker
Michael Leonard Brecker was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Acknowledged as "a quiet, gentle musician widely regarded as the most influential tenor saxophonist since John Coltrane," he has been awarded 15 Grammy Awards as both performer and composer and was inducted into Down Beat Jazz...

, which led to Botti producing the Brecker Brothers’ Out of the Loop
Out of the Loop (Brecker Brothers album)
Out of the Loop is an album by the Brecker Brothers, released through GRP Records in 1994. In 1995, the album won the brothers the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Jazz Performance .-Reception:...

. The album won a 1995 Grammy for Best Contemporary Jazz Performance.

Verve recordings (1995-2000)

Botti's solo debut, First Wish, was released in 1995; his second effort, Midnight Without You, which included a collaboration with Blue Nile vocalist Paul Buchanan
Paul Buchanan
Paul Buchanan is a professional boxer, fighting out of West Denton. He turned pro on 31 January 2001....

, appeared in 1997. These were followed by Slowing Down The World in 1999 which included vocal contributions from Sting and Jonatha Brooke
Jonatha Brooke
Jonatha Brooke is an American folk rock singer-songwriter and guitarist from Illinois.Her music merges elements of folk, rock and pop, often with poignant lyrics and complex harmonies...

 (also on the Midnight Without You release).

Botti was also a member of Bruford Levin Upper Extremities
Bruford Levin Upper Extremities
Bruford Levin Upper Extremities was a musical group composed of drummer Bill Bruford, bassist Tony Levin, guitarist David Torn, and trumpeter Chris Botti....

, a more experimental, jazz fusion-oriented group. He composed the score and recorded a soundtrack for the 1996 film Caught
Caught (1996 film)
Caught is a 1996 erotic thriller film about a drifter who disrupts the simple life of a fish market owner and his wife. The film was directed by Robert M. Young, and stars Edward James Olmos, Arie Verveen, María Conchita Alonso, and Bitty Schram....

.

In 1999, Botti was invited to tour with Sting as a featured soloist in the Brand New Day tour. The two-year run culminated in All This Time, a CD/DVD-taping and webcast performance from Sting’s estate in Tuscany on September 11, 2001. Botti attributes his relationship with Sting as having changed the course of his career.

Columbia recordings (2001-present)

Botti was introduced to Columbia by Bobby Colomby
Bobby Colomby
Bobby Colomby is an innovative jazz-rock fusion drummer, and an original member of the group Blood, Sweat & Tears...

, drummer and founding member of Blood, Sweat & Tears
Blood, Sweat & Tears
Blood, Sweat & Tears is an American music group, originally formed in 1967 in New York City. Since its beginnings in 1967, the band has gone through numerous iterations with varying personnel and has encompassed a multitude of musical styles...

, who went on to become his producer and manager. Botti’s first Columbia release was Night Sessions in 2001. This was followed in 2002 by December, a holiday album, which included an original composition by Richard Marx
Richard Marx
Richard Noel Marx is an American adult contemporary and pop/rock singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer. He had a string of hit singles in the late 1980s and 1990s, including "Endless Summer Nights", "Right Here Waiting", "Now and Forever", and "Hazard"...

. The project represented the only time Botti has performed vocals on two tracks.

A Thousand Kisses Deep, was released in 2003 and contained a group of originals and covers that accent Botti’s crossover
Crossover
-Fiction and media:* Fictional crossover, a storyline combining characters or settings from separate fictional properties** Fictional crossovers in video games* Crossover , a 2002 documentary by Justin Lin...

 appeal as both a jazz and pop musician.

When I Fall In Love followed in 2004, which featured a more traditional sound than its predecessor.

To Love Again: The Duets, released in 2005, continued where the previous album left off with more lush orchestral jazz via the London Session Orchestra, this time showcasing guest vocalists — as well as a handful of instrumental tracks.

In May 2005, Botti was invited to perform at Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Winfrey is an American media proprietor, talk show host, actress, producer and philanthropist. Winfrey is best known for her self-titled, multi-award-winning talk show, which has become the highest-rated program of its kind in history and was nationally syndicated from 1986 to 2011...

's Legends Ball weekend honoring her African American heroines. In 2006, Billy Childs, Gil Goldstein
Gil Goldstein
Gil Goldstein is American jazz pianist and synthesizer player who started on the accordion.He began studying accordion at age 5, but later moved on to cello and piano. He studied at the Berklee College of Music and by 1973 was working with Pat Martino, Lee Konitz, and others. He started with the...

 & Heitor Pereira
Heitor Pereira
Heitor Teixeira Pereira , or Heitor TP, is a Brazilian musician, who played with Simply Red and several famous musicians, like Elton John, Rod Stewart, k.d...

 won the Grammy for Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s): "What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?" (Chris Botti & Sting) from Botti's album To Love Again - The Duets. 2006 also marked his first PBS collaboration, Chris Botti Live: With Orchestra and Special Guests, released in early 2006. The CD and platinum-certified DVD included duets with Sting, Burt Bacharach
Burt Bacharach
Burt F. Bacharach is an American pianist, composer and music producer. He is known for his popular hit songs and compositions from the mid-1950s through the 1980s, with lyrics written by Hal David. Many of their hits were produced specifically for, and performed by, Dionne Warwick...

, Gladys Knight
Gladys Knight
Gladys Maria Knight , known as the "Empress of Soul", is an American singer-songwriter, actress, businesswoman, humanitarian, and author...

, Jill Scott
Jill Scott
Jill Scott is an American soul and R&B singer-songwriter, poet, and actress. In 2007, Scott made her cinematic debut in the films Hounddog and in Tyler Perry's feature film, Why Did I Get Married? That year, her third studio album, The Real Thing: Words and Sounds Vol. 3, was released on...

 and Renee Olstead
Renee Olstead
Rebecca Renee Olstead is an American actress and singer. Active since childhood as an actress, she is best known for her roles in the TV sitcoms Still Standing as Lauren Miller and The Secret Life of the American Teenager as Madison Cooperstein...

.

On September 25, 2007, Botti released an album entitled Italia
Italia (album)
Italia is an album by Chris Botti, released by Columbia Records on September 25, 2007. The album places focus on Botti's Italian roots through his cover versions of such songs as "Ave Maria", "Venice", "Estaté", and the title track "Italia", where he partnered with Andrea Bocelli, Botti also...

. The album places focus on Botti's Italian roots through such songs as "Ave Maria", "Venice", "Estatè", and the title track "Italia", on which he partnered with Andrea Bocelli
Andrea Bocelli
Andrea Bocelli, is an Italian tenor, multi-instrumentalist and classical crossover artist. Born with poor eyesight, he became blind at the age of twelve following a soccer accident....

. In December 2007, the album was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Album. Botti also performed the song with Bocelli during the 2007 edition of the Teatro del Silenzio
Teatro del Silenzio
The Teatro del Silenzio is an Italian open air amphitheatre which is located in Lajatico, Tuscany — the hometown of Andrea Bocelli. In 2006, Bocelli influenced the municipality of his hometown Lajatico to build the outdoor theatre, and contributed greatly towards its construction. Bocelli...

, which was released on DVD titled Vivere Live in Tuscany
Vivere Live in Tuscany
Vivere Live in Tuscany is a CD/DVD package of a pop concert by classical Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli. The concert was performed at Bocelli's Teatro del Silenzio in Lajatico, Tuscany, July 2007. In this DVD he performs duets with Sarah Brightman, Elisa, Laura Pausini and Heather Headley, and...

, in 2008.

Early in 2009, Botti released his second CD/DVD PBS project, Chris Botti in Boston. Performing with the Boston Pops Orchestra
Boston Pops Orchestra
The Boston Pops Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Boston, Massachusetts, that specializes in playing light classical and popular music....

, Botti shared the stage with Yo Yo Ma, Steven Tyler
Steven Tyler
Steven Tyler is an American singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist, best known as the frontman and lead singer of the Boston-based rock band Aerosmith, in which he also plays the harmonica, and occasional piano and percussion. He is known as the "Demon of Screamin'", due to his high screams...

, Josh Groban
Josh Groban
Joshua Winslow "Josh" Groban is an American singer-songwriter, musician, actor, and record producer. His four solo albums have been certified at least multi-platinum, and in 2007, he was charted as the number-one best selling artist in the United States with over 21 million records in that country...

, Katharine McPhee
Katharine McPhee
Katharine Hope McPhee is an American pop singer, songwriter, actress, model, and television personality. She gained fame as a contestant on the fifth season of the Fox reality show American Idol in 2006, eventually finishing as the runner-up.Her self-titled debut album was released on RCA Records...

, John Mayer
John Mayer
John Clayton Mayer is an American pop rock and blues rock musician, singer-songwriter, recording artist, and music producer. Born in Bridgeport, Connecticut and raised in Fairfield, Connecticut, he attended Berklee College of Music in Boston. He moved to Atlanta in 1997, where he refined his...

, Sting and others.

By June 2009, Chris Botti had released twelve solo albums. His first few releases are often classified as smooth jazz
Smooth jazz
Smooth jazz is a genre of music that grew out of jazz fusion and is influenced by R&B, funk, rock, and pop music styles ....

, though critic Alex Henderson argues that Botti's music was a cut above much of the genre; reviewing his 1999 album, Slowing Down the World, Henderson writes "it would be a major mistake to lump it in with the outright elevator muzak that Kenny G, Dave Koz, Najee, and Richard Elliot were known for ... Botti is capable of a lot more."

In media

Botti was the leader of the house band
House band
For the British band that existed from 1984-2001, see The House BandA house band is a group of musicians, often centrally organized by a band leader, who regularly play an establishment. It is widely used to refer both to the bands who work on entertainment programs on television or radio, and to...

 on the nationally syndicated daytime talk show The Caroline Rhea Show
The Caroline Rhea Show
The Caroline Rhea Show is an American syndicated variety/talk show that was regarded as the successor to The Rosie O'Donnell Show. It premiered in September 2002 and ran until June 2003 and was hosted by actress and comedienne Caroline Rhea, who was hand-picked by Rosie O'Donnell as her...

for its only season in 2002-2003. He was named one of People
People (magazine)
In 1998, the magazine introduced a version targeted at teens called Teen People. However, on July 27, 2006, the company announced it would shut down publication of Teen People immediately. The last issue to be released was scheduled for September 2006. Subscribers to this magazine received...

magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People of 2004.

For several years, Botti also hosted a radio show called Chill with Chris Botti, that focused mainly on "chill" music, which is described as "smooth jazz with a touch of cool jazz
Cool jazz
Cool is a style of modern jazz music that arose following the Second World War. It is characterized by its relaxed tempos and lighter tone, in contrast to the bebop style that preceded it...

." In 2007, saxophonist Mindi Abair
Mindi Abair
Mindi Abair is an American smooth jazz saxophonist with a strong Top-40 pop music background. Mindi has toured and/or recorded with the Backstreet Boys, Duran Duran, Mandy Moore, Josh Groban, Adam Sandler, Keb' Mo', Lalah Hathaway, Lee Ritenour, Teena Marie, John Tesh, Bobby Lyle, Jonathan Butler,...

 took over the hosting duties, and the show, using the same format as before, is now called Chill with Mindi Abair. With the success of To Love Again, Botti hosted a special concert at the Wilshire Theatre in Los Angeles in December 2005 with many of the guest artists from the CD. It was recorded for airing on PBS in Spring 2006 as Chris Botti: Live with Orchestra and Special Guests, which also was released as a DVD.

Instrument

Botti plays a Martin Committee
Martin Committee
The Martin Committee was a line of band instruments, including trumpets, cornets, fluegelhorns, trombones, and saxophones. The name originated in the mid-1930s and was used until 2007...

 large bore Handcraft trumpet made in 1939, and uses a #3 silver plated mouthpiece from Bach
Vincent Bach Corporation
The Vincent Bach Corporation was an American manufacturer of brass musical instruments that began early in the twentieth century and still exists as a subsidiary of Conn-Selmer. The company was founded in 1918 by Austrian-born trumpeter Vincent Schrotenbach .-Vincent Bach:Vincent Schrotenbach was...

 made in 1926, having recently retired his 1920 3C Bach mouthpiece. He uses a Leblanc Vacchiano Harmon mute from the 1950s.

Verve label

  • First Wish
    First Wish
    First Wish is the debut album by trumpet player Chris Botti. It was released by Verve Forecast Records on February 28, 1995.-Track listing:-Personnel:* Chris Botti - Trumpet, Keyboards, Piano* Cyro Baptista - Surdo, Shaker* Joe Bonadio - Percussion...

    (1995)
  • Midnight Without You
    Midnight Without You
    Midnight Without You is the second studio album by trumpet player Chris Botti. It was released by Verve Forecast Records on May 20,1997. The album title track features The Blue Nile, co-write the song with Botti.-Track listing:-Personnel:...

    (1997)
  • Slowing Down the World
    Slowing Down the World
    Slowing Down the World is the third studio album by trumpet player Chris Botti. It was released by GRP Records on June 22,1999. Botti himself provided vocal on "Same Girl".-Track listing:-Personnel:* Chris Botti - Trumpet, Keyboards, Vocal...

    (1999)

Columbia label

  • Night Sessions
    Night Sessions
    -Personnel:* Chris Botti - Trumpet* Camilla - Vocal * Billy Childs - Keyboards* Vinnie Colaiuta - Drums* Shawn Colvin - Vocal * Luis Conte - Percussion* Shane Fontayne - Guitar* Lani Groves - Background Vocal* Jimmy Johnson - Bass...

    (2001)
  • The Very Best of Chris Botti (2002)
  • December
    December (Chris Botti album)
    December is the fifth studio album by trumpet player Chris Botti. It was released by Columbia Records on October 22, 2002. Botti himself provided vocal on "Perfect Day" and "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas".-Track listing:-Personnel:...

    (2002)
  • A Thousand Kisses Deep
    A Thousand Kisses Deep
    A Thousand Kisses Deep is the sixth studio album by trumpet player Chris Botti. It was released by Columbia Records on September 13, 2003. Guest vocalists include Chantal Kreviazuk on "The Look of Love" and Bridget Benenate on "Ever Since We Met"...

    (2003)
  • When I Fall in Love (2004)
  • To Love Again: The Duets (2005)
  • Live: With Orchestra and Special Guests (2006)
  • Italia
    Italia (album)
    Italia is an album by Chris Botti, released by Columbia Records on September 25, 2007. The album places focus on Botti's Italian roots through his cover versions of such songs as "Ave Maria", "Venice", "Estaté", and the title track "Italia", where he partnered with Andrea Bocelli, Botti also...

    (2007)
  • Chris Botti in Boston (2009)
  • This Is Chris Botti (2011)

See also


External links

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