February 17, 2005
Interview by Bonnie Schendell

From ballads to standards, from classical to rock, trumpeter Chris Botti has done it all. He is a gifted instrumentalist and talented composer. His trumpet playing can make you weep, smile, or dance. On a rare night off during his tour, I was able to catch up with Chris in Moline, IL.

SmoothViews (SV): This evening I am so pleased to finally catch up with one heck of a busy trumpeter, Chris Botti. Chris, welcome to SmoothViews. You have been one busy guy this past year. Touring with Sting, releasing your latest CD, When I Fall in Love, and now heading out for solo shows and opening for Josh Groban. How are you and how has it been?
Chris Botti (CB): I’m very good, thank you. We spent four months of last year opening for Sting. I’m no longer in his band, but it was such a great honor to take my band out and open for him two months here in the United States and two months in Europe. It was really an amazing way to end the year last year. And now it’s been going absolutely bonkers since the new record has been released and accepted so well. And so now we are doing a bunch of solo shows in the states and then doing a 35-city tour alongside Josh Groban with my band. And then we just keep going with my band all the way until the end of the year. And in the middle of all that, pull up and do a record in the summer which will be out in the fall. It’s just going to be a very action-packed year for me and hopefully continue with the momentum that was built up from last year.

SV: Last summer Mindi Abair opened for Josh Groban, now you. Is this to introduce new audiences to smooth jazz?
CB: I don’t know. I would think that it is just a really cool, eclectic mix of music to have jazz and classical on the same bill. It’s a new thing. I am certainly more accustomed to playing in front of a Sting audience or my own audience. But we have been so fortunate that the fans have been coming out and everything has been sold out. We’re really having a lot of fun on this tour.

SV: Are you performing any of your older music or mainly selections from the new CD?
CB: A mixture of all the stuff, and certainly I think I am doing… yeah, I think I am doing music from all of the Sony records that I have out. Yeah, a set from Night Sessions, from A Thousand Kisses Deep and from When I Fall in Love.

SV: Well, let’s talk about the new CD. Like you said, it has taken off. What propelled you to go in the direction of standards and some favorite pop songs?
CB: Well, a lot of that has to do with a couple things. The When I Fall in Love record cost about three times as much as any other record I’ve made. To get to that place in your career where a record company will believe in you enough to put that kind of financial backing, to allow you to do a record with an orchestra takes a lot of ground work and a lot of fan base already out there before they are going to say go ahead and do this. And the second thing is that the record company already had the idea for me to do this and it just happened to line up with my dream. Once in Clifford Brown’s life he got to do it with Clifford Brown with Strings, and Miles Davis got to do it a few times with Gil Evans. Those opportunities come along so rarely that when you get a chance to do a record with an orchestra, you go for it. And then to not only have it, the idea from the record company, but to have them promote it as well as they’ve done, and have it accepted across the board into a pop mainstream area of society, is just the icing on the cake that I would never have dreamed of. So, I really wake up and feel very fortunate to be doing this kind of music and having the success with it that we’ve had.

SV: So you said there is going to be a new CD coming out in the fall?
CB: I think we are going to keep it going while the attention is so positive and try to do the follow up to When I Fall in Love, and try to have it out in October. And I may even do a second record at the same time, which would be a classical record. On the CD, When I Fall in Love, we sort of branched into some of the classic cinematic film stuff as well. I think the trumpet feels beautiful in that arena, and I would love to explore some of that.

SV: Most people will agree that you are THE master of the ballad, moving many folks to tears with renditions of songs like “My Funny Valentine.” Do you see that as your strong point, your niche?
CB: Yeah… certainly I think that the sound of my trumpet is the thing I am most proud of. You know, you can break music or jazz down into a few different things, the actual texture of the music and the content that you play. I think that my strong suit is really the tone of my instrument. It’s the dark, melancholy tone of the instrument. And I don’t play flugel horn. I make sure that the heart rate comes from the trumpet, and I am really proud of that. That really lends itself to when you are playing a ballad. That was the thing that I was so happy about when we started out to make this record. There is no real groove element to the music. It is all, for the most part, ballads and introspective, melancholy kind of stuff. And to have it cross over and to be my crossover success… it’s a wacky thing… be careful what you wish for! (laughing) Sometimes it really does happen! But, my favorite thing is to play ballads. I have a couple of favorite things when people come up to me at shows. They say my music either made them cry or they fall asleep to my music. Hopefully not when they’re driving! But actually fall asleep at night to it. Those are the two most personal things said to me when people talk about my music.

SV: So, it sounds like you are making a more conscious effort to do more mellow ballad music.
CB: Yeah… and certainly most of my records have that kind of point of view anyhow. If you look at Midnight Without You and Slowing Down the World and all those records, even though they have the radio things like “Drive Time” or some things that are more up and bouncy, I think there are people that do that better than I do. I would say that Rick Braun… that’s way more his strong suit… the groove oriented kinds of music. He does that really great and I do my thing really great. That’s what I really think is wonderful about the trumpet. There are not many trumpet players and the ones that are out there… we are so radically different in our approach and our view on not only music, but the way we approach the trumpet. And I’m really happy about that state right now, you know, because there isn’t a lot of competition! (laughs) There’s not like 15 trumpet players waiting in the wings. I am really fortunate and what seems to have been a limitation early in my career, where people wouldn’t play me on the radio, or my stuff was too slow, or it’s the trumpet and we only play saxophone, has now become a situation where it is a niche, and people are more apt to play it, and I am very, very grateful for that.

SV: Well, how is your “Chill with Chris Botti” show going? I read that it was just recently picked up by WNUA in Chicago.
CB: A lot of people are getting on board. It’s even a new kind of adventure for me, not only because it’s my first time doing a radio situation, but the music itself is new. I grew up as a jazz musician and went to Europe on tour and got a bit of exposure to the chill music. I’m sort of a spokesperson to a lot of people via my association with being a jazz musician and knowing a little bit about chill music. But to be honest with you, this is an adventure that I am going along on with the listener. Even though my music, certainly on the Night Sessions CD, we had a little bit of an influence of chill music. But basically I am a jazz musician who likes music whether it is jazz music, classical music or chill music, that just really makes you chill out. All the jazz music I like does the same thing to you that this chill music does, except they’re completely coming from a totally different arena. I’m enjoying it, it’s fun for me and I’m getting exposed to some cool new music.

SV: I guess CD101 in New York is one of the first stations to change its format to chill and you’re living in New York these days, aren’t you?
CB: Yeah, the one month a year I am in New York… I’m there!!! (both laughing)

SV: Has that station picked up your show?
CB: They are playing it five nights a week, which is a really interesting thing. I think that nighttime really suits me as a person and certainly, musically. So, I think it’s really great. I think they changed their logo to be New York Chill, but it’s not a 24-hour chill station by any means. They still play all the smooth jazz and are just sprucing it up and trying to broaden it a little bit. If you go anywhere else in the world, they don’t really know anything about smooth jazz, they just know about chill music. To the rest of the world, their version of smooth jazz is chill. So, I think it’s a very logical step that the people who are fans of smooth jazz will take to chill music.

SV: Since you are the master of the ballad, where are you emotionally when you play? What are you thinking about when you’re up there?
CB: Oh, boy… part of me is thinking about not letting the trumpet get the best of me, which is tough. Most of that stuff I play is so delicate and is so deceptively physically difficult, that if there is any error that is going to take place, it’s going to be very, very embarrassing. I have had some rough nights, but have never gotten to a night where I completely messed a note up. That said, a lot of my energy is taken up by making sure that doesn’t happen! (laughs) Emotionally, I think that when I look back on it and when I really connect the most is when I’m allowing my brain to drift. You know, when you’re not actually thinking about anything, when you’re in that emotional lake and it’s about 6 o’clock at night when you have that very calm, emotional place. That’s where emotionally I kind of go. Either that or I go to the worst heartbreaking, you know, ripped-out-your-heart dumping situation that I’ve had! If I conjure up those kind of sad, kind of melancholy, heartbreaking things… those are great for playing ballads. That’s the mode we get into.

SV: So, I have to ask you… now that you have been thrown into the media, with People Magazine and other things, how has that affected you?
CB: Wow… I don’t read any of the stuff, first of all. I hear about it from my friends. But it’s strange. It’s a very strange sort of thing. It’s very interesting how when you first read something about yourself in print or hear about it from your friends that’s 100% fabrication… you don’t really know how it’s going to affect you until it happens to you. I’ve had friends that have been written about in the media and say it’s all made up and you’re like, “Ah well, don’t worry about it.” But when it actually happens to you, it kind of takes your breath away, and makes you think, “How could they write this?” That’s been the most strange thing about stuff that’s been written about me. The People Magazine thing was different. That was relentless teasing by my friends. Here’s what was so great about the People Magazine thing. That is, in this day, in 2005, the way that you are able to get to a lot of people is through television. And nobody recognizes the fact that 99% of television programs will not have anything to do with instrumental music on their show. And I have been so incredibly fortunate to have gotten on some of these shows and had some support from very popular people, like Oprah, in television.

SV: Did the Caroline Rhea Show help out, too?
CB: Well, that helped with me just being in front of a camera and it was an absolute blast doing Caroline’s show. She’s so great. But the 50 Most Beautiful thing… what that was, was a fluke. I just happened to be in L.A. at an event and walking down the red carpet and stopped and talked to the people from People Magazine, who were really nice. Then the next week they said hey we’ve chosen you for this. I was completely blown away by that. That People Magazine thing has opened so many doors in mainstream media and television. I think it was a gutsy move of People Magazine to pick a 42-year-old jazz musician to be in their issue, and not just yet another 20-year-old movie star. That’s really a cool thing that has happened to me this year, and with the record doing so well, we are just beating the odds. And a lot of that is mainly due to the publicity department at Columbia Records. They’ve done just a great job.

SV: I have seen you play several times and I notice how much you love it when children are in the audience. You encourage it. What are your thoughts regarding children and music?
CB: Well, it’s one thing that I can talk about non-stop. I don’t have any kids of my own. I have nieces and nephews and I have a great amount of concern for what’s happening in our society with kids. Parents are under so much pressure these days, not only to do their job and keep the income coming into the family, but to keep their kids constantly entertained. Parents are running their kids ragged from ballet to soccer to skiing to whatever.

I remember having a discussion with Jeff Lorber, who I think is one of the most, not only talented, but intellectually cool guys that I’ve met in the music industry. He and I were having a candid discussion about when we were growing up. We had many, many hours a day to do nothing. The main staple of my childhood was the phrase I’m going outside to play. It’s sad. I think it would be fun to do a little interview process with a Spielberg or anyone who is highly creative and ask what made you creative. What made you that way? I think that not having a bunch of options, and actually having to make up things in your brain, to daydream, to do nothing. Or, in the case of myself or Jeff Lorber, to practice your instrument. Because there was nothing going on in Oregon, where I grew up, I would just literally just sit there hour after hour after hour and play my instrument. And that’s what led me to be sitting here speaking with you!

By the time a young kid gets to be the age of 16 or 17, if they’re interested in music, it’s over. The bad news is it’s over. I go out to talk to kids at high schools and colleges all the time, and I say your decision to become a musician is from ages 9 – 14. You can be a rock musician and be older, but if you want to be a ballet dancer, or a violinist, or a drummer, or a trumpet player, you’ve got to be really dedicated as a young kid, and know in your gut that you’re in it for the long haul. That element can be brought on… you can get passion by a few things. Seeing live music and seeing live musicians and being enamored with musicians are the things that will light that initial fire, and then obviously practice.

I remember going to see Doc Severinsen as a kid, and I got to go backstage and he was so nice. Even took a picture with me. I sent Chuck Mangione a letter when I was a kid in junior high school. And he wrote back to me, a handwritten letter. I invited Chuck Mangione to dinner at my Italian grandmother’s house… just silly stuff. And this guy who’s got a busy schedule, met me and thanked my grandmother for the invitation. I always remember stuff like that, and now when young trumpet players write to me, I try to get back to them. I try to listen to demo tapes and always encourage young musicians to take the leap of faith and play instruments. That stuff with the internet and American Idol is being lost, because the fans of American Idol, they’re not necessarily interested in practicing. They want to go from 0-60 overnight. They want to be pop stars overnight and jazz music, saxophone and trumpet, is not about overnight. It’s about many, many years, and then maybe you become something. People say, “What’s it like to be an overnight sensation?” and I say, "First of all, I am 42 and secondly, this overnight has been long coming!!" (both laughing)

SV: And also the schools are hindering a lot of kids with budget cuts. Music departments or music classes just aren’t what they were when we were kids.
CB: Absolutely right. You are so right on the nose. Music programs are somehow being confused with cheerleading for football teams. Marching band is not the greatest thing for music. Music is music. Cheerleading for football teams in the middle of winter in Oregon, with kids with braces and their mouthpieces bouncing up and down on these little faces, that’s something else. I’m mainly interested with getting kids excited about music and musicians and sitting there watching Yo-Yo Ma playing cello and thinking, "Oh my God, my life has changed." That’s what excites me, and that’s why I keep trying to get parents to leave the babysitter at home and bring the kids out and see live music.

SV: You’ve been out on the road with so many great people and your own band, you’ve got to give us a fun road story.
CB: Oh, my God… a fun road story. Wow. I certainly think that the element of humor in the Sting organization is something I had never witnessed before. And they do things that I had never seen before. Two of the gentlemen in Sting’s band used to come and introduce me every night when we opened for them. And they would make up this crazy story about how they are going to bring out this blonde-haired kid that was raised by baboons. And the audience, all 7,000 people are looking like what the heck are they talking about. And in their thick English accents they would talk about how the baboons raised this trumpet player and how they, the baboons, moved to New York because they knew the trumpet player was going to be famous. And then they got him a record contract with Sony Records… and this went on for weeks or months during the tour! And then finally we were playing in Canada for the last show. There were like 8,500 people in the audience, playing in a hockey rink. I’m on stage, playing the very last song and the guys had done the introduction again that night about the baboons. Everything is going great and then I see out in the audience, this commotion going on. As I look and am able to focus my eyes, I see these two giant gorillas rushing the stage. Sting had gotten these guys to dress up as gorillas, and they literally came up on the stage and removed me physically from the stage! They were throwing bananas to the audience and carted me off the stage. I could not contain myself. I was doubled over laughing as I waived goodnight to the audience… and the band just kept on playing. It was hysterical! Stuff like that you just don’t come up with. You’ve gotta be English and wacky! They’re very clever, those guys.

SV: Well, I want to thank you for your time, Chris. It has been so much fun talking with you. I look forward to seeing you next month at Berks and to another new CD later this year.
CB: Thank you and take care.

For more on Chris Botti visit Chris's website: www.chrisbotti.com.

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