Botti’s jazz music is all about style, mood

By John Benson

His 2007 effort, ‘Italia,’ was nominated for a Grammy Award.

Smooth jazz for the hip crowd is what trumpeter and composer Chris Botti provides the musical world.

Perhaps what separates the Oregon native from his peers is he rarely enters into the schmaltzy sounds of, say, Kenny G. Instead, there’s an edge to Botti’s work, which explains why he’s played with so many big names in his nearly 15-year career. The list includes Sting, Andrea Bocelli, Jill Scott, Josh Groban, Michael Bubl , Dave Koz, Paul Simon and Rod Stewart.

For Botti, he’s on a musical adventure, hoping to imbue a special universe and atmosphere where sentiment and mood can be instantly created with a simple note or musical phrase. In other words, the 45-year-old is following in the footsteps of the great Miles Davis.

“Miles Davis was a guy that, like a few instrumentalists, was able to play a couple of notes and break your heart,” said Botti, calling from Central Park in New York City. “That’s what I love in music, and certainly if you look at the career of a guy like Miles Davis, he didn’t really have a hit and he never had a hit song, ever. He had a general mood to his trumpet playing, and really the most important thing is that you connected with the mood that he’s trying to convey rather than Chuck Mangione, who had a hit.

“That’s really kind of what I love about Miles Davis or Keith Jarrett or Frank Sinatra is that ability to sing or play music that kind of takes the person to that melancholy state.”

Whether it be happiness or downheartedness, Botti decided to touch upon the emotions of romance based on Italian music for his 2007 effort “Italia.” The Grammy Award-nominated effort includes a guest appearance by Andrea Bocelli on the title track, as well as a studio-created duet with Dean Martin on “I’ve Grown Accustomed to Her Face.” The latter track was recorded in the same Hollywood studio exactly 50 years after Martin cut the song originally.

For Botti, the timing of “Italia” just made sense.

“On one of my previous records, ‘When I Fall in Love,’ I messed around with doing a couple of Italian things, including the movie theme to ‘Cinema Paradiso’ and a song called ‘Time to Say Goodbye,’” said Botti, who in 2004 was named to People magazine’s “50 Most Beautiful People” list. “Those two songs gave me the initial idea to do an Italian record.

“Also, the ability for the trumpet to not only play jazz but to play classical music is strong. So I wanted to explore doing some classical themes, as well as jazz without saying ‘Hey, this is my classical record.’”

Though “Italia” allowed Botti to explore different genres or soundscapes, his studio efforts and live show are two different worlds. In concert, the bandleader said he’s careful to maintain his jazz credibility with engaging performances built around improvisation and top-notch musicianship. Botti and company are scheduled to perform Tuesday at the Palace Theatre in Cleveland.

“Our live show is completely different from our albums,” Botti said. “I think, the thing that made my career launch in a big-time way is our ability to play live with this incredible band that I have.

“So when we hit the stage, we just blow everybody’s heads off. We’re musicians who want everyone to feel virtuosity and the level of musicianship on stage, so to redo my records would be too mellow. So when we come out, we rock out and just do our thing.”