StarBulletin.com

1 man, 1 horn


By

POSTED: Friday, April 02, 2010

Some musicians maintain harems of instruments—those “;guitar gods,”; for example, who travel with a dozen or more prized instruments and use a different one for almost every song in the show.

Others can be described as monogamous. For Chris Botti, one trumpet and one mouthpiece are all he needs to make beautiful music in several genres.

“;I was fortunate enough to just have found the trumpet that works and resonates for me,”; Botti explained by phone last weekend. He was hours away from a trans-Pacific flight and the first stops on an international tour that includes a one-nighter Thursday at the Blaisdell Concert Hall.

“;It's the mouthpiece and the horn and the way they interact together. I play very old vintage equipment and it really works for me,”; he continued. “;I think whether you're marrying a woman or playing a trumpet, sometimes you can meet the love of your life and know it instantly, and sometimes they can be your friend and you don't know it for many years.”;

For Botti, one note was all it took.

               

     

 

 

CHRIS BOTTI

        Where: Blaisdell Concert Hall, 777 Ward Ave.

       

When: 7:30 p.m. Thursday

       

Cost: $50 to $80 ($45 to $75 presale)

       

Info: 591-2211 or www.ticketmaster.com

       

 

       

“;A collector brought this horn to a concert 10 or 11 years ago and in the autograph line, which I do every night after the show to sign autographs, he walked up to me and said, 'This is the same kind of trumpet Miles Davis plays, I think you might like it.'

“;I played one note—a concert G—and said, 'You're right, I love it. You're not getting it back. Call me tomorrow and we'll work out the details.' It's been with me ever since.”;

Botti and his trumpet come to town next week still high on the release of “;Chris Botti in Boston”; almost exactly a year ago. The double release (CD and CD/DVD, also available in Blu-ray) includes performances with Sting, Josh Groban, Yo-Yo Ma, John Mayer, Katherine McPhee, Lucia Micarelli, Sy Smith and the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and epitomizes the diversity of Botti's repertoire.

“;That's our latest and greatest record,”; he said. “;It was a big opportunity for me to make an artistic record that has a combination of classical music and rock stars and jazz and all that stuff happening at once. That's a lot of what I've been known for is to take music even in the same concert and go kind of effortlessly—hopefully!—from jazz to classical to rock 'n' roll and everything in between.”;

Copies of “;Chris Botti in Boston”; will be available for fans who can't find it in local record stores; Botti also will be available to meet fans and sign autographs after Thursday's concert.

While some artists complain about being on the road, Botti currently tours more than 10 months each year and truly enjoys that lifestyle. “;It's been that way for six years. I haven't stopped touring at all, nor do I think I'm going to,”; he said.

“;It's a real privilege to be able to have the success that has come to me in my life, albeit it happened kind of later in my life, but it happened, and for an instrumental artist to break through and really kind of gain popularity in the mass media and the mass audience is very, very rare.”;

Botti said that getting out there night after night, playing for growing audiences and answering the question, “;A trumpet. How does that work?”; while playing music of several genres is the best way he knows to broaden public perceptions of instrumental music.

“;It's a little bit more random, but I guess everything happens for a reason. Certainly that guy being there (10 years ago) and giving me that trumpet that night was for a reason for me.”;

Watch video from Chris Botti's appearance at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel last year at www.hsblinks.com/28i.