CHRIS BOTTI'S LATEST CD

[DAN BOLTON]

Just picked up his latest, A THOUSAND KISSES DEEP...it's not Alpert, but it isn't really all that bad...I didn't get bored listening to it...sometimes I hear Herb, sometimes I hear Chet Baker.

I think Chris has really matured as an artist in the past couple of years, and this is a good album, if you can get past the Herb-clone image...I really like INDIAN SUMMER and DO IT IN LUXURY, and the title track isn't bad, either...that's where I heard the Chet Baker influence...


Until Herb does a new album, this is as close as we're gonna get...what do some of the rest of you think of the album?


Dan

 

[Captaindave]

I can't comment on this album as I have not heard it, but I do very much like Chris Botti as a trumpet player. I first became aware of him with the song "Drive Time." I still think of this song when I hear Botti. I do not know the name of the album that contains this particular song.

I also like Rick Braun very much. As far as I am concerned, Botti and Braun are the two trumpet players I listen to, other than Herb Alpert. There are other great players around, but I just don't seem as interested in spite of their playing abilities. Maybe it's because Botti and Braun play music that is accessible to the average person and fun to listen to, just like Herb Alpert in that regard. They are probably the modern day version of the kind of instrumental pop/jazz that would have been Herb's style in the TJB days...

At times, I hear certain aspects of Herb's tone, styling, and phrasing in Botti' playing.

Braun is a technician - great tone, range, technical skill, and super control of the horn. He is simply a great trumpet player. He has it all mastered, IMO. I think he is a very underrated player, although he is commercially successful. I'd very much like to see a Braun concert.

Botti is excellent also...he is among today's finest, especially in the stylistic and tone quality areas of playing...plays with much musical feeling and style...