What is it about trumpet player Chris Botti that is synonymous with romance? For Washingtonians, it may have something to do his concerts falling around Valentine’s Day. In his return to D.C. on Friday, Botti will perform from his latest CD, “Impressions,” at the Kennedy Center. Not surprisingly, this current offering took most of last year to record because Botti’s preference has always been touring with his band 300 days of the year as opposed to spending weeks in the recording studio.
“We just finished the album yesterday,” he said recently. “There was a seven-week stretch in October and November [where] we went to, and came back from, Asia four times! We’d go to Shanghai for a day and come home; to the Philippines for three days and come home; then to Japan for 10 days … you know?”
While Botti says it’s fantastic to have such a boyhood dream of his finally realized, it also means every day in an airplane and a situation, he said, “where it’s almost impossible to have a family, a dog or a cat or anything.”
| Onstage |
| Chris Botti |
| Where: Kennedy Center Concert Hall, 2700 F St. NW |
| When: 8 p.m. Friday |
| Info: 202-785-9727; wpas.org |
As such, his audiences, including at the Kennedy Center, are the beneficiaries of all that romantic trumpeting.
“We’ll play from ‘Impressions,’ which has all kinds of romantic songs,” Botti said, by way of a preview tease. “And then I have some special guests in the band that we’re bringing with us.”
He notes for sure he and the band will be playing the standard love songs, the ones he considers timeless, such as “When I Fall In Love,” “The Very Thought of You” and, naturally, “My Funny Valentine.”
Many of these ballads are even ones Botti has recorded and performed with the stellar likes of Josh Groban, Michael Buble and Andrea Bocelli.
Additionally, Chris and his seasoned band have played with many of the world’s finest symphonies, and he has just signed to perform with the Washington Symphony for three nights next year.
“The Kennedy Center is just one of the most magical places to perform in the world,” he said, emphatically.
And no doubt one of the most romantic when he takes the stage.
