Trumpeter will serve up jazz with pop, rock flavors

By Jerry Fink (contact)

Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2009 | 2 a.m.

PUBLICITY PHOTO

Chris Botti

Jazz trumpeter Chris Botti has put down roots.

Botti — who will perform Saturday at Aliante Station — accepted the nomadic life while touring constantly for 10 years.

Recently the 46-year-old bought a home in Los Angeles. He’d been daydreaming about making a change, walked into a house for sale, fell in love with it and bought it on an impulse.

“I literally went from being completely homeless with no possessions, no mailing address, no photos, no storage lockers, nothing. I owned nothing but one suitcase and a carry-on bag,” he says by cell phone from a sidewalk cafe in L.A. “It was a bizarre lifestyle I was leading for so many years. But now to have a place, it’s cool, it’s grounding.”

Botti began performing professionally while in high school, studied at Indiana University and relocated to New York, where he played with jazz greats George Coleman and Woody Shaw. He emerged as a highly regarded pop session player, playing with Bob Dylan, Aretha Franklin, Thomas Dolby, Paul Simon and Sting. His solo debut, “First Wish,” combines contemporary pop-jazz with the textures of art rock.

“So much of jazz is based on how good or how interesting the music is around you,” he says. “If you’re a folk singer and want to sing a song, you can do that in front of an audience with a guitar and either please or not please that audience. But if you look at the career of any jazz musician, generally their music is determined by what the landscape is underneath that particular voice.

“Take the case of Miles Davis. His music changed so much when he went from the ‘Kind of Blue’ band to the Herbie Hancock band to the Wayne Shorter band to the rock ’n’ roll band of ‘Bitches Brew’ to the later band of Marcus Miller. Miles was still the same, he was the constant.”

Botti’s band features Billy Kilson on drums, Billy Childs on piano, Robert Hurst on bass and Mark Whitfield on guitar.

His latest album, “Chris Botti in Boston,” taps his varied musical taste. The CD and DVD feature Botti and guests such as Sting and Yo-Yo Ma performing live with the Boston Pops Orchestra at Symphony Hall.

“To say the group is diverse is an understatement,” Botti says. “I wanted people to see that first of all you can make great music standing in front of a symphony, whether the music is classical or jazz or rock ’n’ roll.

“The thing that is constant is the artistry level. They are all great ambassadors for music and the things that are good in the world, like practicing and dedication. Kids today kind of lose the element of practicing their instruments. They don’t understand all the great musicians got to where they are by practicing and hard work.”

Vegas musicians understand that concept, which is one reason Botti likes to perform here.

“So many musicians live in Las Vegas who come out to our shows. You know there will be a very knowledgeable crowd there. Vegas is up there with New York or L.A. or Chicago. So for us, it’s not just a random drive through to play there.”