May 'Artist Of The Month' Chris Botti Named One Of People's 50 Most Beautiful
May 1, 2004 - Chris Botti didn't become Smooth Jazz Now's 'Artist of the Month' by being a hottie, that's the distinction that came from People magazine. Botti was named one of People magazine's 50 most beautiful in their April 28th issue. Read our interview with the popular trumpeter as he talks about touring with Sting and Joni Mitchell, his TV gig with Caroline Rhea and he gave us some insight on why most of his albums are slower and very moody. We talked to Botti via phone on March 31, 2004.

John Beaudin - Hi Chris, it's great to finally connect with you.

Chris Botti - Likewise John.

John - Peter White told me yesterday that when you recorded a track (Stormfront) on his new album "Confidential" you didn't have a home?

Chris - (laughing) I did not have a fixed address when we worked together on that song. That's right. In fact I did that for four and a half years. (laughing) I had a storage locker with all my personal belongings in it. I would sort of float from hotel to hotel but I've had a flat in New York since August of last year. Then again I'm barely ever there.

John - Well, sure you went off and toured with Sting. How often are you there?

Chris - Since August I've probably been there maybe a month. I did a two year tour with Sting and then I was out on the road with my own band so it's just been crazy as far as not being anywhere.

John - You know I once listened to Chet Baker's version of "My Funny Valentine" maybe 100 times in a row. Not on the air of course but it's a favorite of mine and I liked what you did with it.

Chris - Well, thank you. I'm really proud of that song; it's a great song but also just how it sounds on that particular recording and the tone of my trumpet.

John - Billy Childs playing piano on there doesn't hurt either.

Chris - Billy Childs and I work so well together. We did a Christmas record together and we have a long working relationship. He really finishes my thoughts on piano, he's wonderful.

John - That song exemplifies that almost whimsical moodiness that you have on your records. Obviously it's a very conscience thing for you since you've done that on all your albums.

Chris - It is. You know when I sit down and listen to music that's the kind of music I like to listen to so when I make an album those are the kinds of songs consequently that I like to make as well. I like things that are beautiful and are not trying to knock the listener out of the box meaning a meditative, quiet, moody and romantic place.

John - I remember reading a review on one of your first albums and the guy said, "Chris Botti is the best artist who was never signed to Windham Hill Records."

Chris - (Laughing) It's so funny that they would say that because there is the other side of my career with the avant garde rock band with Tony Levin and Bill Bruford. So I can do a lot of different things but when I sit down and make records what's important to me is not showing off my technique. I think that's what separates me from a lot of straight ahead Jazz musicians. I don't be bop through a whole bunch of different chord progressions. I'm just trying to play melodies with this trumpet sound which I've worked so hard to get.

John - You did two Burt Bacharach tunes on the latest album. Has he been a part of your musical foundation?

Chris - Not necessarily what it was is that we were just hooked up when we worked together for two days writing songs for this record. What we did write will probably come out in a future record. The experience was so great and he's such an amazing musician and everybody grew up with those songs. I guess closer to my heart is my Jazz background but certainly I'm really happy with the way the tunes turned out especially the way "The Look of Love" turned out. Also a Canadian Chantal Kreviazuk singing.

John - How did you two hook up?

Chris - Just through some mutual friends at my record company and it was a lot of fun.

John - Are you familiar with Chantal's husband's (Raine) band Our Lady Peace?

Chris - Oh, sure absolutely.

John - They're pretty big here in Canada but I don't think they exactly splashed onto the U.S. market.

Chris - I first heard them on their very first album. It might have been ten years ago.

John - That first album "Naveed" came out I think in 1995 or 1996.

Chris - Yeah maybe. Well a friend of mine who worked for U2 was managing them so that's how I first got exposed to Our Lady Peace. It think that they're really, really talented.

John - Your tune "Do It In Luxury" has really stayed with me. Hell, I'm humming it on the way to bathroom in the middle of the night.

Chris - (laughing) I've never heard that before concerning my music but I'll take it.

John - (laughing) Yeah, it's nuts I've been humming you. There's a Canadian Jazz vocalist name Carol Welsman who did the same thing to me a few years ago but it doesn't happen often. I noticed you did a Leonard Cohen tune that's in fact the title song.

Chris - You know the gentleman that produced "A Thousand Kisses Deep" also produced a Leonard Cohen album called "The Future." So they have a relationship so Steve Lindsey my producer knew that song and approached Leonard. The interesting thing about the version on my album is that my version included a B section or a bridge. Steve thought it needed a little lift in the middle so they went back and wrote a bridge for me so you get kind of a bonus in the version that we recorded. It's really come alive while we've been on the road for the last couple of months, it's really become one of my favorite melodies to play.

John - Are you a note taker? In between albums do you write down ideas or inklings on what you want to do for the next project or do you just get yourself in a quiet place and just wait for the inspiration?

Chris - It's a bit of both. Some of it is quite random. I can be somewhat impulsive as a person so I'll quickly decide to do whatever. I tend to want to make my records quiet quickly so I don't think about it too much but generally the best ideas come to me when I'm in a quiet space like you said.

John - You have worked with a gem of a vocalist that hopefully will break through with her new album, Jonatha Brooke.

Chris - She is so wonderful and at the same time there are millions who should know about her that don't. She is such an incredible talent. What a voice, what a personality and stage presence. She is a great songwriter and she just has everything. I can't say enough about her not just in her band The Story but also as a solo artist.

John - I saw her in Vancouver a few years ago and I was already a big fan before the show but after that concert she could do no wrong. Have you heard her new album "Back in the Circus?"

Chris - I have not yet but I'm anxious to go check it out.

John - Ok, I have to ask you about the big "Sting is a swinger" story started by his wife Trudy on the Howard Stern radio show.

Chris - (laughing) You know I never thought I would be questioned about that. Of course I was like all other New Yorkers and I opened up page six and saw it and I'd left them the night before when our tour ended. It was actually in Ottawa and so Sting left for Italy and I went to New York and the next morning there was that interview in the paper. You know I have to say that they have done that show so many times and they keep upping the anti as far as being outrageous and humorous. I haven't spoken to them in person about it but I can only imagine that they were having a laugh. It's a crazy story isn't it?

John - It gets people talking.

Chris - Yeah, you're talking to me about it. Trudy can really be witty and outrageous and she can stand toe to toe with Howard.

John - Playing with Sting I would imagine is a pretty ideal gig. You must stop sometimes and pinch yourself.

Chris - You know I do and each year it sort of grows. Our friendship and what he's done for my career. Not only is he solely responsible for exposing the tone of my trumpet through being the soloist in his band but to also go across the country and open up for him has been such an incredible honor. To take my band out and play before his world class band. I have a lot more fans because of that. We just did five shows in Canada and that was great, a lot of fun. It just keeps getting better and that says a lot about him as a person and I'm very grateful for our relationship.

John - When I first heard that you were not only playing in his band again you were actually opening up for him I was very happy for you. Are you going to be part of the Sting/Annie Lennox part of the tour?

Chris - No, I'm not. I may show up in selected cities to just go out and jam with them on a song or two but really he gave such an opportunity to expose the tone of my trumpet to the world. I remember when we did the final show which was filmed on 9/11 for a documentary called "All This Time" which to me was my final Sting show. I really committed myself to my solo career since the release of "Night Sessions" and "A Thousand Kisses Deep" to really stick it out with my own records and really stick it out with my own band and tour and make records. I'm no longer a part of Sting's touring band but we're still so connected that I'll probably be lurking around one of these upcoming shows.

Part two posted May 1, 2004

John - We wrote a story on you and Sting supporting the release of Dominic Miller's new solo album.

Chris - You know I have to say that his record is just a beautiful album. Those people who aren't exposed to a lot of Classical music. It's a great entree into that kind of music or that format. I don't think I've heard Bach or Beethoven referred to as a format but then they were the original American Idols. (laughing)

John - Dominic has a lot of varied styles.

Chris - Well, when he plays with Sting he's obviously a rock guitarist but all of his solo records have that same incredibly beautiful, moody nylon string guitar feel. He and Sting both have a love for Bach. They are always playing unaccompanied Bach guitar solos so that thread runs through both of them. I think it was a logical step for Dominic to make a very accessible Classical record. He also has some wonderful guests on the album Placido Domingo and Sting. He also has great distribution across the world on Decca.

John - I know you recorded 'Night Sessions' in ten weeks how about 'A Thousand Kisses Deep?'

Chris - A little bit more maybe twelve weeks. Like I said a while ago I like to work quite quickly because it takes away some of the neurosis and believe me all artists have enough of that stuff. (laughing) There is some finagling that goes on and production stuff that takes a little more time.

John - .When I was in my twenties I wasn't so good at time schedules because it made me feel like I was in a box but now that's how I live my life.

Chris - Oh Yeah, me to. It's sort of the root of improvisation I think that's what gives it the immediacy even though there's some production that delays the immediate reaction. We kept the album pretty stripped down leaving the trumpet pretty naked and that's the way I like it.

John - Is your schedule still nuts.

Chris - Oh yeah, I'm usually doing a phoner like this or a television interview almost everyday.

John - Speaking of TV how did you get that gig with Caroline Rhea?

Chris - I went on her talk show just to promote my Christmas record like I would any other talk show. I played my song and she came over and we chatted and we instantly had this verbal repartee' that really worked and in between commercials she said, "Hey, do you want to come back tomorrow?" I told her sure no musician is going to turn down national television. So I went back the next day and again during commercials she came up to me and told me "Why don't you come back for a few weeks and you don't have to worry about playing you can just sit on the couch and shoot the breeze and see how things transpire and I ended up doing it for five months." You know a lot of people think because of the tradition of Paul Schafer and Doc Severinsen they think that I was the band leader but I had nothing to do with that. I would just walk in at ten o'clock in the morning and start tapping and everything was pretty much unscripted. You know right before the particular guest would come on the bass player who was the band leader would yell at me "F minor" and I would just blow in F minor. (laughing) So really I was there in a non musical fashion I would just sit on the couch and just talk to her and see what it's like on television and thinking on your feet was great. Caroline is really quick. She's a very smart and intelligent and has a great comedic wit so I enjoyed that volley every morning.

John - Jim Brickman told me before Christmas that he looked at his NBC hosting duties as just an extension of the entertainer thing. How did you look at it?

Chris - As a host?

John - Well, were you scared at first?

Chris - Oh no, not at all. The thing that I enjoyed so much about it is I just felt so comfortable. In a lot of ways I felt more comfortable than I do performing especially when I have to perform the national anthem at some huge sporting event. I'll get a little uptight about that. Just sitting down and talking to her was a lot of fun for me. Unlike a lot of people on television she is not afraid of taking risks. A couple of times in the beginning we'd cut to a commercial break and I'd say, "Sorry Caroline, sorry about that I kind of blew that." She'd just say, "Don't worry about it just roll, don't edit yourself." That's unusual because in television the producer usually comes in and asks what you're going to talk about and they'll almost script it like you say this and you say that. She really doesn't do that she just rolls with it. I think that's because she comes from an improvisational background as a standup (comic).

John - In radio everyone talks about show prep and really I agree that's important but the true magical moments usually come out of things that have nothing to do with scripting. So I'm glad to hear she was like that.

Chris - She was probably one of the most engaging people I've ever hung out with and been on television with. She has the ability to talk about something that is very accessible to Middle America to quote a phrase but it could have a third meaning that is very racy. Visually she's very sweet but she has this dark humor thing that sometimes kind of slides in. You have to pay attention but she's really good at that.

John - In your past were there any classic albums that you didn't get right away? Like for me it took a few years to get into 'Dark side of the Moon."

Chris - Classic albums? No one's ever asked me that question before, interesting.

John - 'Kind Of Blue' by Miles Davis for instance, did you get that right away?

Chris - Well, when I first heard Miles Davis he sort of changed my life. The tone of his trumpet and everything he's done I've loved so I get all that. I'll tell you something there are some bands that are so huge that it's not that I didn't get them but they sort of missed me. Probably the largest band in the world the Beatles. I was living in Italy when the Beatles hit and I missed the whole Beatlemania thing and I started playing a brass instrument and the trumpet doesn't fit in that guitar / pop framework that they had. So many people especially in New York and Los Angeles were so moved by a few different bands like Led Zeppelin and the Beatles and they never really took to me. So those are two that really stand out. You know I'm always at parties and people ask me "Do you like Led Zeppelin?" Well, I sure respect them and I loved the drummer when he was playing but I never really went there with it, you know. I'm trying to think of something that I didn't like at first then loved it but I can't. I'm one of those guys who makes up my mind instantly. Just the touch of the instrument. When Keith Jarrett sits down and plays a middle C I'm right there with him. I believe everything he plays. I believe it and I love it forever.

John - Are people surprised when you say you're not 100% into Zeppelin or the Beatles?

Chris - I have so much respect for those particular two bands but they don't go right to my core of who I am. Ultimately, the kind of music that I like 99% is heartbreaking or dark or moody. Not in a really negative way but I'm a big Blue Nile fan and I love Peter Gabriel. I love the English moodier stuff. I love Sade and I like Joni Mitchell a lot and I've had a chance to work with her. When I hear her sing 'Both Sides Now' it just destroys me in such a beautiful way. So that's the kind of stuff I really enjoy. Canada has a ton of people like Diana Krall and Sarah Mclachlan that I like as well.

John - I think Joni Mitchell influenced a lot of people no matter the genre but in Smooth Jazz her name comes out a lot. When was the first time you heard her?

Chris - Much, much later. I come about things in such a weird way. I heard her when she was a pop star in the seventies but it's not that I didn't like her but this may be the answer to your earlier question. I just thought she was Joni Mitchell and she was fine and dandy but then I heard her in 1996 or 1997 I heard a much later album called 'Night Ride Home.' That really made me sit up and I listened to all the records that followed it. It came to a cap for me when she did 'Turbulent Indigo.' Those are the records that I really love everyone else wants to listen to 'Hejira' and all the stuff that we played on the road with her and hey I love that stuff as well but there's something about the tone of her voice in the latter part of her career when it got a little deeper. It had more years on it. I say that in a very positive way. People who got Joni in the sixties and they all loved her voice then but I love her voice now. (laughing) I love her voice in the last fifteen years and I think she is matured so beautifully as an artist, a songwriter and a singer. I'm just so into her big-time.

John - I've talked to people who have interviewed her and some have said she's a little eccentric and other have said she's very eccentric but interesting everyone said she's with you 100% when you're talking to her. What do you say from your experience with her?

Chris - Yeah, the latter parts for certain. The other thing that I found really fascinating with her was that often we were in the van on tour and it was just the four of us and we'd be traveling to different places and she's always talking. She's very, very verbal. We'd be driving across the countryside and she's be commenting on farmhouses or the weather or the way the roads kind of intersected and I tell you if I had a cassette player rolling there would be four or five songs a night worth of material. It's just the way she is. It's just the way she can paint a picture verbally. She's like very few people I've ever come across. Paul Simon certainly has the ability to do that but he doesn't sit there and chat it out all the time. He's a little more withdrawn or introverted. Joni's just chatting all the time to anyone and she has that thing that you talked about of making you feel like you're the only person in the room and she's just saying some beautiful thing.

John - When is your radio show "Let's Chill' coming out?

Chris - (laughing) I hope soon. You know I'm kind of behind the loop on knowing the exact date but I think we're looking at sometime this summer to get it launched.

John - The whole Chill thing is really taking off.

Chris - It is and in the rest of the world the chill out vibes is the largest music format except in North America. It's an adult format and it's coming and I really think especially on Smooth Jazz radio people are going to take to it in a very cool way. It does a lot of things Smooth Jazz does except in a new fresher way. It's very sensual and it's very transparent which gives it its charm in a way. When you go in these cool clothing stores or hip hotels in Paris and lounges across the world and that's what they're playing. It's supposed to be sexy wall paper. I think that's going to be a cool thing to play on the radio to have people come to that type of music.

John - My sweetie Shannon and I were in the car listening to a chill sampler before Christmas and she asked, "What is this it makes me feel like having sex." (laughing)

Chris - Yeah, it does and that's why they play it in all those places where people go so they can do that. (laughing) They can meet people and hang out in a real sensual environment. You go to the hippest restaurants in L.A. or New York and they're all playing it. So now how do we get that into a radio format? There are a few small independent radio stations that do it with great success so how do we get it to the masses. I think Smooth Jazz and that adult audience is really the way you can make that thing work.

John - Your show will be distributed by Dave Koz' people correct?

Chris - Yes, I just had lunch with Dave a couple of hours ago and we're really anxious about getting this thing going.

John - Going back to your Christmas album 'December' which I really liked, was it hard narrowing down the seasonal songs to actually cover?

Chris - Not really. I had been out on the road I guess it was two Christmas seasons before that. I had played alot of Christmas music and I had done a tour with Jonathan Butler and also Norman Brown and Jeff Lorber so I knew which songs fit well with my trumpet. It's funny you need songs that feel right on the instrument so that's what we went for first and then we expanded upon that. I'm really proud of that record, it's different sounding for me and I'd like to do another album that sounds like that wiith a more organic production flavor with a simple orchestra feel.

John - What's coming up in the next six months for you?

Chris - I'm hoping to launch the chill show, tour as much as I can then in July do another record which I hope will be out in October.

John - What players just wow you?

Chris - You know something there's a guy who I've referenced here in this interview with you who's not new but its Keith Jarrett. He released an album that's just solo piano a few years ago called 'The Melody at Night, With You.' It's all standards and there's no real soloing per say it's just him playing these beautiful melodies. It almost sounds like Chopin except it's just this incredibly sublime music. When you think about all the people who play golf for instance. All of your friends and your relatives all play golf and they all talk about it but there's only one Tiger Woods and how much of an achievement that really is. If you think consequently about all the people who play piano, well. You know the trumpet is a very small slice of the music world. Not a lot of people play the trumpet but many people grew up playing the piano and there's only one Keith Jarrett and he's just sitting there in the corner. His touch and his passion and his ability to communicate a melody. He and a group of four or five guys, Herbie Hancock and just a few people. It's a very admirable position and those kinds of things I have so much respect for. I've also been playing a lot of old Miles Davis records and man you can't beat that it makes me want to be a better player everyday.

John - You know I remember hearing Keith Jarrett's 'Köln Concert' for the very first time and I thought now here is a guy who is directly connected to whatever brought us here, more than anyone else in music. It's almost freakish.

Chris - You're right and I'm a grown man and sometimes I listen to that stuff and it reduces me to a kid. Especially his introductions to stuff. It reduces me to a weeping heap on the ground. He'll play this beautiful motif which isn't flashy at all and then he'll lay out some chord that is very, very simple but it encompasses touch, emotion and timing and the sense of just pulling your heart strings apart. You're going oh my God stop and then he'll lay out another chord and you're gone. I can't move it's so beautiful. That's what I love about all the artists that we've talked about tonight and certainly he's been my favorite as of late.

John - Chris, you'll be our 'Artist of the Month" in May. I've really appreciated your music through the years and thanks for your time.

Chris - Thank you so much. I really appreciate it. Take care.