Chris Botti Brings A Jazz Valentine to Clearwater’s Ruth Eckerd Hall
Famous trumpet player Chris Botti came to Florida over Valentine’s weekend to bring some romantic music to the Tampa Bay area. Chris and his four-piece band mixed it up with jazz and pop tunes along with a several special guests that we will talk about later. Of course with it being Valentine’s weekend, there were many couples in the audience, jazz enthusiasts and longtime fans. Mr. Botti appeared onstage in black with a while jacket and his Martin Committee handcraft trumpet. He quipped “Ushers, let everyone in to enjoy the show, this isn’t a wild Foo Fighters show.” Everyone got a laugh at that.
The show started with the classic Charlie Chaplin written song “Smile” played in instrumental by Chris and the band. The first of special guests that Chris brought out was award-winning Russian violinist Anastasiia Mazurok who duetted with Botti on several songs including “Emmanuel” and “My Funny Valentine”, which they both came down in to the audience to play. Anastasiia plays an incredible violin and the audience clearly loved hearing her. Chris gives time for each of his band to do some solo work and show off their very talented skills. Bassist Zach Moses gave us a solo on the standing bass that was jammin’ while Botti sat side stage and watched along with the audience.
Another guest with the show is singer-songwriter John Splithoff. They played their tune “Paris” that they collabed on and that is on Chris’ latest album Vol. 1 on Blue Note Records. Speaking of the Blue Note, Chris has been doing a residency in New York City at the jazz club for years at the Note every Christmas season. If you are there for the holidays be sure and check it out. www.bluenotejazzclub.com
John Splithoff has a great voice and they performed the iconic Leon Russell written “A Song For You”. Chris told the story of doing this song with David Foster and Michael Buble at the Hollywood Bowl for Foster’s 75th birthday. Botti has worked with Michael Buble on many projects over the years and is going on a summer tour with David Foster and his wife singer Katherine McPhee through the Midwest, Northeast and California. The list of artists he has worked with is amazing including Frank Sinatra.
For the third and final guest, jazz singer Veronica Swift (no relation to Taylor) brought her chops to the stage for some Cole Porter tunes that included “I’ve Got You Under My Skin.” and “Love For Sale”. I like the way the show has different genres and artists and yet it still keeps the overall jazz feel. Chris surrounds himself and shares the spotlight with some very talented artists. Drummer Vinnie Colaiuta is entertaining, Leo Amuedo has played with Stevie Wonder and Barbra Streisand, won Grammy awards and is an accomplished guitarist in jazz and Latin music.
An interesting and heartwarming event happened at the Clearwater show when Chris introduced a fan friend of his, Dr. Dawn who is a cardiologist. She was in the audience for the taping of his “Live From Boston” show in 2008. A man in the front row had a heart attack and Dawn who was behind him was able to save his life! While Chris was telling this story, a man stood up in the audience and said “That was my father!” The entire audience and Chris were stunned by this revelation. Chris invited him backstage after the show and you can see the photo of them on Chris’ Facebook page. You never know what might happen at a Chris Botti show! Check out all the information for tour dates at www.chrisbotti.com
Vicky Sullivan Photos for The Suncoast Post