The first time I heard Chris Botti play was July 9th, 2000. He was the featured trumpet soloist in Sting's band during the Brand New Day Tour. That one concert was enough. I tracked down one of his CDs not long after, and I've been following him ever since. Monday night at the City Winery in Pittsburgh was just the most recent time I've caught him live.
If you haven't heard Botti before, his sound sits somewhere between jazz and instrumental. Smooth without being empty, melodic without being predictable. He has a tone on the trumpet that's genuinely hard to describe without reaching for something flowery, so I'll just say it's warm and leave it at that. He knows how to hold a room.
What he also knows how to do is bring guests worth paying attention to. There were a few this time around, but the one that stood out was Anastasiia Mazurok, a Juilliard School alumna and award-winning classical and crossover violinist. She was a real addition to the show, not a cameo. Her playing has a precision to it that contrasts nicely with Botti's more languid style, and when they were on together it gave the set some real lift.
The City Winery is a good room for this kind of music. Intimate enough that nothing gets lost, and the sound was clean all night.
Recommended.
