Jazz sensation Chris Botti reveals his freewheeling style
Riding his carefully cultivated wave of fame, complete with the requisite Oprah endorsement and Sting approval, jazz trumpeter Chris Botti is swinging through Shanghai. His first China tour follows on the heels of his latest album Italia, a slickly packaged combination of jazz covers, orchestral themes and well-vetted collaborators, including Andrea Bocelli and the late Dean Martin in a noteworthy play on a 1957 recording. It's the sort of music that might blend into the background of a dinner party--but don't call it smooth jazz, it's a term that makes Botti wince.

Indeed, there is a depth and sensibility lurking in Botti's music that puts him somewhere outside the reach of other big jazz names, just as his People magazine "50 Most Beautiful People" face hides a serious musician dedicated to his craft. Emerging from his slinky trumpeter S-shaped stance after the mini-performance, Botti rebukes some of the popular labels for his music. "These labels, smooth jazz, adult contemporary, whatever," he says, "the connotation is that people listen to bad music at dinner. I don't."

In his sneak-peek concert for the press in Beijing, Botti, with the excellent and patient anti-star Billy Childs on piano, performs two of his old standbys, "My Funny Valentine" and Ennio Morricone's theme from Cinema Paradiso, evoking the smooth romance of his albums. His May performance, he says, will be another story. "My concerts are nothing like my albums," he says. "People come expecting this lush, controlled trip, and it's a rollercoaster." Listeners accustomed to the tight movement of his album may in fact be surprised by the freewheeling improvisation that comes out of Botti's group of top-notch musicians and guests at performances. "I will match my band up against anyone, any rock group, pop group, anyone," he says. "But it's hard for me to say that and have you believe it," he adds with a smile.

Botti credits the shock value of this gap between expectation and reality as "the single biggest reason of my success." Or perhaps it's because Botti knows how to play to his audience. "You've got to thread the needle, literally, to come to a place like China," Botti acknowledges. When asked if his first performance in Shanghai would have any special nods to Chinese music, Botti smiles slyly. "We're going to have some surprise elements," he says. "But I'm not going to say what it is yet, because I don't want to blow it."

Keith Griffith

Details:

When: Shanghai Oriental Art Center
Where: Saturday, May 17
Cost: ￥80-980