King of the Road

Chris Botti Is Constantly Touring -- and He Wouldn't Have It Any Other Way

This is what qualifies as a rest for trumpeter Chris Botti: a 17-night, 33-show residency at New York's Blue Note; three nights at the Birchmere (starting Monday); six nights at Yoshi's jazz club in San Francisco.

"It's great to be able to go to a venue and not have to get on an airplane every day," says Botti, who has just landed in Greenville, S.C., and checked into his hotel before a concert the next night.

Playing a club like the Birchmere, he says, "gives us the ability to present something slightly looser than at Wolf Trap or the Warner [Theatre] because it's a much more intimate place. When I was coming up, the Birchmere was always great to me and I always loved playing it, so when they offered three nights to come back there, I said, ' A bsolutely.' "

It must be love because Botti long ago outgrew clubs, thanks to such lushly orchestrated albums as 2004's "When I Fall in Love" and 2005's "To Love Again: The Duets." The first spent 17 weeks atop the Billboard jazz charts and created an anomaly: the words "million seller" attached to a jazz album. "To Love Again" begat a popular PBS special featuring special guests, including former employer Sting, Jill Scott, Paula Cole and Burt Bacharach.

Both albums showcase Botti's cool, elegant romanticism, marked by a beautiful trumpet tone. His latest release, "Italia," is more ambitious: a reflection of his family's cultural roots in Italy (Botti lived there for several years as a child) as well as mix of classical music, Ennio Morricone melodies and Italian pop. "Italia" is all about mood, atmosphere and evocation whether it's an ageless "Ave Maria," a haunting Morricone theme from "Once Upon a Time in America," a genial duet with Dean Martin (based on a 1957 recording of "I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face"), Puccini's majestic aria "Nessun Dorma" or a pop collaboration with tenor Andrea Bocelli on the title track.

"It has a little bit of classical overtone and certainly that moody jazz thing I got known for, and at its core it's still kind of romantic music," Botti says. "I think of the three albums that have really featured that style of my playing, it's the most realized, the one I'm most proud of."

And, he adds, "it's selling the best of any of my records, which these days in the record business I'm thrilled about."

For some fans, there's another thrill factor: Botti's good looks. When he first came up, one critic described him as "the sexiest jazz trumpet player since Chet Baker," and in 2004 People magazine declared him one of its "50 Most Beautiful People." (It probably didn't hurt that at the time Botti was linked romantically to TV's Katie Couric.)

"All that stuff can kind of work for you and against you," says Botti, 45. He suggests that it's his sound, not his looks, that has earned him a significant fan base. "It just strikes a chord because it's melodic and makes people kind of daydream off. Now, with the classical music influence, it's moved into a slightly different arena.

"I've fallen into this tricky situation, especially with critics, where they're quick to point out it's not a jazz album, and I'm quick to point out it's not a jazz album. Then when they come see us live and I've got [pianist] Billy Childs and [bassist] Bob Hurst and all these jazz musicians and they're lighting it up, it shows a range that I don't think is expected. When we play live, all bets are off."

Botti has long embraced studio sessions and road work with pop artists. He has racked up hundreds of album credits, including for Paul Simon, with whom he toured and recorded for five years. Another longtime collaboration began in 1999, when Sting signed Botti as a featured soloist on his "Brand New Day" tour. For the next three years, Botti's supple ornamentations and emotional colorations beautifully underscored many Sting songs while exposing the trumpeter to huge crowds and a non-jazz audience.

Sting later had Botti open for him, wrote for and sang on Botti's albums, and even flew from Italy to Los Angeles for the PBS special, guesting on "My Funny Valentine."