The Star Online: Entertainment: Music
The Star Online: Entertainment: Music |
| Posted: 08 Dec 2011 11:50 PM PST Trumpeter Chris Botti keeps setting the bar higher for himself. AS the biggest selling instrumentalist in the United States, trumpeter Chris Botti is riding high on the jazz charts. And he showed us why on Tuesday night at his one-night, sell-out concert with the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra. Botti has taken his straightforward, subtle and melodic, Miles Davis-influenced style to the top of the traditional charts and into the hearts of millions. From the moment he stepped on stage to play the seductive When I Fall in Love, and held on to a long note to eternity, he had the crowd eating out of his hands. The evening's repertoire comprised jazz standards (The Look of Love, The Very Thought of You), classics (Flamenco Sketches) and operatic crossovers (Nessun Dorma, Italia) to thought-provoking (Emmanuel, Cinema Paradiso) and simmering (Indian Summer) numbers. Botti displayed his prowess on the instrument by spitting out fiery staccato bursts, holding notes steadily before losing them to chaotic flurries, and burrowing deep within a song in exploration of its nuances. "This is the palest person ever to play the trumpet," he joked during the concert. Together with his magnificent band, vocalist Lisa Fischer and violinist Caroline Campbell, Botti brought the house down. For the encore, the hall changed into a nighclub setting when Botti and his pianist Geoffrey Keezer played a dreamy rendition of My Funny Valentine. Three standing ovations. And deservedly so. He's probably one of the few artistes who tours more than 300 days a year. Heck, he might even take more flights than the flight attendants! He has played with some of the best symphonies in the United States but is just beginning his voyage to play with Asian orchestras. "I've sort of made it my mission to go on the road all over the world. My real success happened later in life and I don't want it to go away. A lot of musicians achieve success early in life and take it for granted. They don't put in the work to ensure they have an audience but for me, that's very important," says Botti, 49, over a phone interview from Minneapolis, Minnesota two days prior to his concert. Botti dropped out of college to play with Frank Sinatra in 1984. Since the release of his first solo album in 1995, he has burnished an image of pensive romance, achieving stardom in the realm of adult-contemporary pop. His real break came when he met Sting and toured with the legendary singer's band in 1999 for two-and-a-half years before embarking on a solo career. After the release of his 2004 critically-acclaimed CD When I Fall In Love, Botti's career skyrocketed. Not only has he grabbed the attention of audiences usually reserved for pop music, his ongoing association with PBS has led to four number one jazz albums, as well as multiple gold, platinum and Grammy awards. His second PBS Special, DVD and Blu-ray release, Chris Botti In Boston, recorded in 2008, is platinum-certified. Botti's selection of music falls under the smooth jazz category but draws from a wide-ranging repertoire of pop, jazz, and classical genres. Over the past three decades, he has recorded and performed with the best in music including Yo Yo Ma, Josh Groban, Michael Buble, Paul Simon, Joni Mitchell, Andrea Bocelli, Joshua Bell and Aerosmith's Steven Tyler. "I wouldn't have a career without Sting," he states, paying tribute to his good friend. "Much of my success has been in doing DVD specials. A lot of artistes performed in that event knowing that Sting was going to perform. Once you have someone like that who believes in you, then over time, other people come on the show." He and his band have been on the road for the past seven years and show no signs of stopping. He says, "I'm sure at some point I'll slow down. It's not the best thing to fly all the time but I love performing and feel invigorated. I don't want to give up the opportunity to reach new audience members and that's why we do it." To date, three million copies of his albums have been sold worldwide. He has played for a string of dignitaries, including President Barack Obama and there's nary a bad concert review although some critics have branded him a "saccharine smoothie." Botti never envisioned he'd achieve all this fame and success. "Each step has been fascinating. The very first time I was able to earn a living for a month and pay the bills, I thought I had won an Academy Award! I never imagined 30 years ago I would have the career I have now. Those kinds of things rarely happen to most people. I'm just lucky. I'm very aware of my good fortune and that's the thing that keeps me going." It helps that his blond hair, boyish looks compliment his talent and serve as eye-candy for the cameras. People Magazine voted Botti one of the 50 Most Beautiful People in 2004. But, Botti remains gracious and unassuming. He has just concluded a concert, it's almost midnight in his part of the world and he has a flight to catch to Kuala Lumpur early next morning. Yet, he agrees to accommodate the phone interview. Naturally, there's a price to pay for fame. He points out, "To somebody that doesn't love this as much as I do, you really have to sacrifice your whole life. I don't have a family life or a dog or a cat or things that are important to a lot of people. But, the upside is that I walk on stage every night and have that fantastic feeling. I push myself harder and with the touring, I get a better insight into my own self." However, Botti is certain his best is yet to come. "There are so many places in the world that haven't seen my show. They might have heard the record but they don't understand fully what we do in concerts. We have a lot of room to grow and markets like Malaysia that we haven't tapped into." Born in Portland, Oregon and raised in Corvallis, Botti spent two years of his childhood growing up in Italy. His earliest musical influence was his mother, a classically trained pianist. He began fiddling with the trumpet at nine and after hearing a recording of Miles Davis playing My Funny Valentine, Botti knew he only wanted to become a trumpet player. "What I loved about Miles compared to Louis Armstrong or Dizzie Gillespie was that those trumpet players played flashy, joyous trumpet sounds while Miles had this melancholic, dark, searching, haunting sound that could make you cry. That's what really resonated within me," he recalls. Yet, he readily admits he is nowhere near the realm of Miles Davis. "I play what I love," he says. "My life is so similar to when I was 12. I just travel a little more. My desire to play the trumpet has never changed. If I were not playing the trumpet, I'd be managing another artist or showing some young person how to make it in the music business." It's incredible how hard Botti works to hone his craft. He puts in more than an hour's practice before he gets on stage and if he's not touring, it's between two to four hours daily. He hasn't been away from his trumpet for more than three days. Any off day beyond that would be suicidal. He confesses, "Yes, I get nervous before every show. But I'm not one of those artistes who says 'Clear the dressing room! I need to concentrate now.' Nah. I like the camaraderie with the musicians back stage. It takes me a song or two to get the nerves out, then everything rolls. "I've screwed up before. I was on stage with Sting and we had a long flight. I was tired so I said I was not going to practise. I walked on stage for my big solo with him and I butchered it. Since then I told myself no matter what, I'll practise when I land from those long flights. But, what makes a good night so fantastic is when you're aware of the bad nights." How does Botti see himself in 20 years? "Hopefully, still standing!" he chuckles. "Oh, I don't know. I think the whole business of the record world is changing so much and I hope to just retain respect from my peers. I look at somebody like David (Foster) who's now 61 and see how energetic and youthful he is or somebody like Sting who's just turned 60 and use them as role models to keep going." Botti is expecting his new album to be released next April and the tone will be similar to his previous ones – romantic and soul searching. "I think this will be my best record musically in terms of arrangement, the way it sounds and the collaborations. I'm very proud of the way it's turning out and am looking forward to it," he says excitedly, adding that he'd like to work with Peter Gabriel someday. Chris Botti's compilation This Is Chris Botti is released by Decca/Universal Music Malaysia Full content generated by Get Full RSS. |
| Yuna readies new song for online gig Posted: 08 Dec 2011 09:08 PM PST SHE returned the Song of the Year title - through no fault of her own - in the Anugerah Industri Awards (AIM) 2011 mix-up (rectification) last month. As the story goes, the country's biggest awards show dropped the ball when it got its main categories messed up but it was singer-songwriter Yuna who came out of the whole AIM 2011 fiasco with her dignity intact and fanbase right behind her. The 24-year-old singer is on to bigger things - notably her role in Hotlink's People Powered Concert on Dec 14. As a virtual concert, Hotlink's People Powered Concert requires viewers to pre-book spots on the website www.nowyoucan.my/yuna (10,000 spots available). The concert will be streamed live on the website at 8pm on Dec 14. Pre-booked viewers will have to log on between 7pm and 7.59pm to experience the exclusive viewing. Yuna will also include a yet-to-be-released track during the online gig. "I'm really glad to be part of this project. It really is a unique effort to engage and collaborate with the online community. There are a few more fun bits that viewers and the public can get involved in, but we will reveal it when the time comes!" said Yuna. In the lead up to the online concert on Dec 14, online users will have the opportunity to name Yuna's single and be part of her video in the next phase of the campaign. For more info, visit (www.facebook.com/hotlink) or (www.nowyoucan.my/yuna). Full content generated by Get Full RSS. |
| Michael Buble rules album chart for 2nd week Posted: 08 Dec 2011 07:24 PM PST LOS ANGELES: Michael Buble continued his reign at the top of the U.S. Billboard 200 album chart on Wednesday with Christmas, as Bruno Mars' single It Will Rain took the No. 1 spot on the Hot 100 chart. Jazz-pop singer Buble's festive holiday CD, featuring old classics such as White Christmas as well as the singer's own song Cold December Night, held the top position for the second straight week, selling 293,000 copies and passing the one million sales mark since its release in October. British singer Adele, who received six Grammy nominations last week, saw her album 21 climb the chart from No. 7 to No. 2, as it was announced that it had officially become the U.K.'s top-selling CD of the 21st century. Canadian pop sensation Justin Bieber's Under The Mistletoe holiday set also climbed the chart to No. 3, while Drake's Take Care held steady at No. 4 and Nickelback's Here And Now round out the top five. Singer Bruno Mars, who also secured six Grammy nominations last week, took the top spot on the digital songs chart with It Will Rain, the lead single from The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1, edging out Rihanna's We Found Love featuring Calvin Harris at No. 2 and last week's top single, LMFAO's Sexy And I Know It at No. 3. Jay-Z and Kanye West's single Ni**as In Paris jumped from No. 17 to No. 5 on the digital songs chart, just behind Flo Rida's Good Feeling at No. 4, after the duo performed the track during the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show, broadcasted on CBS on Nov. 29. While album sales fell by 1.72 million this week after last week's Thanksgiving weekend sales boost, new releases from late singer Amy Winehouse, The Black Keys, T-Pain and The Roots are expected to impact the chart next week. Full content generated by Get Full RSS. |
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