Chris Botti On Touring With Frank Sinatra, The Influence Of Miles Davis, And The Importance Of Practice

A Grammy Award-winning trumpeter and composer, Chris Botti started playing professionally as a teenager in the early 1980s. While studying at Indiana University, he hit the road for some gigs alongside Frank Sinatra and Buddy Rich. A few years later, after moving to New York to further hone his craft, Botti began touring and recording with Paul Simon. Some other notable artists who Botti would go on the record and/or tour with in the 1990s were Bette Midler, Aretha Franklin, Joni Mitchell, Roger Daltrey, and Natalie Cole.

Chris Botti’s career moved up a few more notches when he joined Sting’s band for the Brand New Day tour. As a featured soloist and sometimes also his opening act, Botti continues to work with Sting to this day. Since that 1999 tour, Botti has released seven studio albums via Columbia Records. He has also performed on big stages alongside Josh Groban, John Mayer, Andrea Bocelli, and Steven Tyler.

Botti seems to be on the road more often than not, recently wrapping a performance at New Jersey’s the TD James Moody Jazz Festival, which also featured John McLaughlin, Christian McBride, Gregory Porter, Valerie Simpson, and Randy Brecker. Upcoming tour dates include December 7 through December 9 at Boston’s The Wilbur, December 11 through January 7 at New York’s legendary Blue Note, and SF Jazz festival shows in San Francisco from January 9 through 14.

Here are some highlights of my Q&A with Mr. Botti. More on the acclaimed musician, including links to live performances, can be found online at www.chrisbotti.com.

I’ve read that you started trumpet at the age of nine. Was that your first instrument?

Chris Botti: My mother played piano and started teaching me how to play piano at a young age, but I wanted to do something different. I saw Doc Severinsen on television and thought the trumpet would be cool. Once I got my hands on a trumpet and heard Miles Davis, I gravitated towards jazz and knew that I wanted to be a jazz musician.

Do you play any instruments these days besides trumpet?

Chris Botti: I write and play a little bit on the piano, however, I would not consider myself a pianist by any stretch of the imagination. The trumpet takes too much practice, and you’ll find that most great trumpet players only play one instrument. It’s an instrument that requires daily attention to keep up your chops. It’s the ultimate test on you physically. The trumpet is the number one hurdle to get past in order to go back and forth from classical, to jazz, to rock, and to still at the end of the night to have an upper register that feels free and open.

Is it true that one of your first gigs was with Frank Sinatra? How did that come about?

Chris Botti: Sinatra, I was just so in awe of! I was only really with Sinatra for two weeks. We were the opening band, and he used Buddy Rich’s horn section to be his backing group, so he was more removed. I didn’t drive around in a bus across the country with Frank Sinatra, we just did this one section of gigs in L.A. The brief handshake I had with him and being able to see him work was amazing.

What I remember was how he engaged the audience. If you ever look at any of his old concert footage, he was always kidding around with the audience, engaging them. And then half the time he and Sammy Davis, Dean Martin, and Don Rickles would be kidding around with each other as well. It was pure entertainment, heckling each other from the bar, the audience, or whatever. The fans would feel like they were let into “the club,” that we were included! Old-school stuff!

In the mid-1990s, you successfully transitioned from being a sideman to a proper solo artist. Did anyone try and dissuade from you making that change?

Chris Botti: Not that I recall and at a certain point, you’re committed to something to an extent that you would do anything, and I’ve always been that way since I was a kid. I was really committed to practicing music, very, very ambitious and dedicated as a young person to my trumpet. And of course, when I was in Sting’s band, he gave me so much exposure by doing solos with me and really promoted my career in a big-time way. But it was his urging that really made me, and the opportunity to be his opening act throughout the world that really launched my career in a big-time way.

Even after you experienced success as a solo artist, you have still played on several artists’ tours, like Sting. What is your criteria for stepping back into a sideman role?

Chris Botti: I have so much fun performing with Sting. He has always been the biggest supporter and the best friend, and he’s like my big brother, really. It’s his friendship that I am the most proud of in my life. If I were to look at any accomplishment or association, by a long shot it’s my friendship with him. We’re family now and his belief in my career so long ago is the reason why I have a career now, I can trace it back to that. We get along so well and have become so close; to have such respect and admiration for someone and have it returned is truly amazing.

What is your ideal sort of performance setup? Do you like playing arenas and stadiums? Are you more fond of playing with orchestras in a theater?

Chris Botti: As in music, I enjoy the variety of venues, and every night I say we’re going to go on-stage and put our best foot forward regardless of how flashy the city is. Obviously, one can say to play in Moscow or New York or the Sydney Opera House is fantastic, but sometimes the best shows are the ones you don’t expect. My job is to make the best music on stage regardless of who’s in the audience. I can’t be particular; it doesn’t have to be just people who know the lineage of John Coltrane to Miles to whomever. My goal is to entertain an audience and have them leave the show wanting to come back.

One of the countries you are most popular in is Poland. How did that happen? I ask because Poland is not known to the masses as a haven for jazz artists.

Chris Botti: I don’t know, but I have to say Poland is one of my favorite places to play. The band has so much fun over there and we always look forward to returning.

You have collaborated with many of the all-time great vocalists and pop artists of our time. Is there a singer you’re still itching to work with?

Chris Botti: I’ve always wanted to work with Peter Gabriel.

What is coming up for you career-wise?

Chris Botti: We’ll continue to tour through 2018. I can’t discuss details yet, but I’m hoping we’ll have upcoming project announcements soon!

When not busy with music, how do you like to spend your free time?

Chris Botti: Honestly, I’m not very good at relaxing and I don’t really go on holiday. I’m a bit of a workaholic, although, I don’t view it as work. I’ve been doing the same thing since I was nine years old; it’s just that now I get paid to do it, it’s awesome! I do practice yoga and I enjoy playing chess, but being on tour and playing for my fans is what I look forward to every day. As I said, I never view it as work, we’re on the road 300 days a year and people ask, “How do you have a life?” I don’t, but I wouldn’t change anything, it’s just really amazing!

Do you have a favorite album of 2017?

Chris Botti: I don’t really keep up with new music, and in general, I don’t find myself listening to a lot of different music for enjoyment although I’m aware of it. I can tell you my favorite album of all time is Miles Davis’ My Funny Valentine.

Finally, Chris, any last words for the kids?

Chris Botti: It’s a cliché, but you have to practice and have behind it the intent to sacrifice a lot. People say, “I would practice” or “I did last week,” but you have to put years and years and years of practice in and keep having that satisfaction given to you by the instrument. Practice and not to veer off too much is probably the best advice I gave myself, and I keep seeing it in other people I recognize to be very talented. People like Sting have that very driven, focused, workman’s-like attitude built around the fundamentals of music rather than the pop culture aspect of it.

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Tags: Chris Botti, Don Rickles, Frank Sinatra, Jazz, Miles Davis, Paul Simon, Sting, Trumpet

About the Author

Darren Paltrowitz Darren Paltrowitz is a New York resident with over 20 years of entertainment industry experience. He began working around the music business as a teenager, interning for the manager of his then-favorite band Superdrag. Since then, he has worked with a wide array of artists including OK Go, They Might Be Giants, Mike Viola, Tracy Bonham, Loudness, Rachael Yamagata, and Amanda Palmer. Darren's writing has appeared in dozens of outlets including the New York Daily News, Inquisitr, The Daily Meal, The Hype Magazine, All Music Guide, Guitar World, TheStreet.com, Businessweek, Chicago Tribune, L.A. Times, and the Jewish Journal. Beyond being "Editor At Large" for The Hype Magazine, Darren is also the host of weekly "Paltrocast With Darren Paltrowitz" series, which airs on dozens on television and digital networks. He has also co-authored 2 published books, 2018's "Pocket Change: Your Happy Money" (Book Web Publishing) and 2019's "Good Advice From Professional Wrestling" (6623 Press), and co-hosts the world's only known podcast about David Lee Roth, "The DLR Cast."