Chris Botti (born October 12, 1962) is an American Trumpeter and composer. Botti has been nominated for two Grammy Awards. Three of his albums have reached the #1 position on the Billboard jazz albums chart.
Born in Portland, Oregon, he 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 play "My Funny Valentine...the music that really inspired me as a teenage" recalls Chris.
He pursued his music studies with a succession of outstanding teachers, David Friesen in the Northwest, Dave Baker in Indiana. Botti studied under jazz trumpet professor Bill Adam at Indiana University and following Botti's move to New York City in 1986 - when he was the recipient of two grants from the National Endowment for the Arts which allowed him to study with master Woody Shaw and saxophonist George Coleman.
When Paul Simon set out on a 15-month world tour in 1990, Chris became a key sideman in a backing group that combined Brazilian and African players with New York session veterans like Randy Brecker, Richard Tee, and Steve Gadd. The Academy Award-winning film composer John Barry cast Chris as the featured soloist in his orchestral score Playing By Heart; Chris himself composed and performed the score for the Robert M. Young film "Caught."
In 2000, Chris joined Sting for two years of roadwork, as the featured soloist with the latter's "Brand New Day" band. That tour culminated in Tuscany, where the concert was taped, later to become Sting's first live CD in 15 years. "Sting in Tuscany: All This Time" garnered six Emmy nominations in the process. "He has a very refined pop sensibility. He works hard, and you know, you see a star a mile off and he took the light..." Sting said of Chris Botti.
Botti’s big break came when he was “discovered” by Oprah Winfrey, who quickly championed his artistry to her audience, presenting him on her show in November of 2004. Within a week of his performance he had sold more than 50,000 CD’s and has not stopped since - maintaining it’s top five presence on the charts all the while.
On September 25, 2007, Botti released his new album, Italia. The album places focus on Botti's Italian roots. Recorded in the United States, England, and Italy, ITALIA is a brilliant showcase for Botti's musical versatility as performer, composer and collaborator. The album includes the newly-composed title track featuring the passionate vocals of renowned Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli. In another of the album's duets, Botti adds his touch to a vocal performance originally recorded in 1957 by the "forever cool" Dean Martin on "I've Grown Accustomed To Your Face," a song first written for "My Fair Lady." In December 2007, it was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Album.
Botti was the leader of the house band on the nationally syndicated daytime talk show The Caroline Rhea Show (a replacement for The Rosie O'Donnell Show) for its only season in 2002-2003.
With the success of To Love Again, Botti hosted a special concert at the Wilshire Theatre in Los Angeles with many of the guest artists including Sting (video) from the CD. The Los Angeles Times music critic Don Heckman wrote, "It was apparent, from the first notes Chris Botti played at the Wilshire Theatre on Friday, that the sold-out house was in for a special evening...it was Botti's virtuosic trumpet work, his inventive melody-making, his engaging onstage presence and his powerful band ...that ruled the evening..."
As of June 2009, Botti has released twelve solo albums. His first few releases could safely be classified as smooth jazz, 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 music that Kenny G, Dave Koz, Najee, and Richard Elliot were known for ... Botti is capable of a lot more.
The TV special "Chris Botti Live in Boston" was broadcasted nationally during PBS' pledge drive in March 2009. This is his second PBS special with much more "cinematic scope" by having a world-class orchestra behind him. Botti and his friends includes Sting and his longtime guitarist Dominic Miller; Josh Groban; Aerosmith's Steven Tyler; "American Idol" runner-up Katharine McPhee; cellist Yo-Yo Ma; and violinist Lucia Micarelli (must-watch video).
"The musicians like Sting or Steven Tyler are all doing it for nothing. ... These guys are doing it for the music," said Botti. "The real reason we're doing it is to support PBS and try to get music on television which television normally doesn't cater to apart from rock `n' roll and pop."
Botti plays a Martin Committee Handcraft trumpet made in 1939, and uses a 3C silver plated mouthpiece from Bach made in 1926, having recently retired his 1920 3C Bach mouthpiece. He uses a Leblanc Vacchiano Harmon mute from the 1950s.
(Source: Wikipedia, tedkurland.com, pittsburghsymphony.org, boston.com)