Jazz purists don’t scare Chris Botti
Trumpeter Chris Botti may face scorn from jazz purists, but he says he’ll be sticking with his electric showmanship until the crowds get tired of it,
Trumpeter Chris Botti is billed as the most popular American instrumentalist in the world, with a reputation for crowd-pleasing shows, as Ottawa music fans have witnessed during past appearances at the TD Ottawa Jazz Festival. But the same showmanship that endears him to audiences of all ages tends to foster disdain among jazz purists. In an interview with Lynn Saxberg, the good-natured Botti defends his approach.
Q Some people think there’s no place for showmanship in jazz. How do you respond to that?
A (Laughs) It’s a funny thing, because we tour and play more shows than probably any other jazz act out there. That’s my job. That’s all I really care about. I want to put together the best band and go and play the most amount of shows for the most amount of people. When those crowds stop coming, then I know I’ve done something wrong.
But, until then, our audience keeps growing and getting bigger and we’re going to more places around the world, and that enables me to have better bands and special guests. I’m going to continue with this path because it’s something that’s working.
Q Maybe the jazz police think you should be noodling in a dark corner instead of entertaining crowds.
A If jazz musicians want to play not as much or smaller places, it’s up to them. It’s doesn’t really affect me at all. There seems to be a notion that if you’re a jazz musician, you need to be concerned with how jazz is being perceived, or the future of jazz.
Q There’s also a school of thought that believes singers dilute an instrumentalist’s jazz cred. Your thoughts?
A If you look at Miles Davis’s most famous record, Kind of Blue, and you take a time-stamp of how many seconds Miles Davis plays the trumpet, and then look at all the other people that take up all that other space — Bill Evans, John Coltrane, Cannonball Adderley and others — Miles is probably only playing 20 per cent of the time. I’m playing from the start of my show to the end of my show all the time, and people think, “Oh you’re so generous to bring out a singer,” but really the singer comes out and sings three songs, and there’s more instrumental stuff going on.
It’s just funny the way that it’s a quick jump. It’s valid, but the reality is that I don’t have a saxophone player in the band. So I’m trying to break it up with singers, not so much to spoonfeed the template of the songs to someone but just to have another colour in the realm of the music. I just decided I didn’t want a saxophone player. I happen to have worked with some of the best singers — Streisand, Joni Mitchell, Sting, etc. I have an affinity for working with singers, and I appreciate singers.
Q What about those big rock ’n’ roll endings of yours. I’m not sure that’s allowed in jazz either.
A Ultimately, I want the show to have dramatic peaks and valleys. When we’re playing all the beautiful, sensitive stuff or when we’re burning on jazz, there’s a certain kind of depth and space and volume to it. So then when we really want to kick it up, you gotta kick it up. Otherwise, the show will be all sort of same-y to me, and I don’t want that. I want the people to be taken on a ride. So that’s the purpose of that at the end, or somewhere in the middle of the set. We might give them a jolt of volume along the way.
Q You tour a lot, often more than 200 days a year. Is it still fun?
A Oh yeah. I don’t actually live anywhere. I own no possessions. I live in a hotel and it’s my life. I think if you’re a kid and especially if you’re a trumpet player, you dream that you could be playing all over the world with your own band and doing the music you want to do, but that good fortune is like finding a needle in a haystack. It just doesn’t happen all the time with instrumentalists. It happens all the time with pop singers. It’s really cool for me and I’m well aware of my good fortune.
Q You have a new PBS special airing this summer. What about recording ? Are you making a new album?
A The record industry is virtually over, and it’s a sad state that we’ve arrived in. I was making one record a year and it was great for me and my creative flow. Now I’m going, “Wait a second.” The PBS thing is kind of like a record, but it has a lot more eyeballs on it than any record. So I guess we’re going to wait and see with that, how it unfolds and affects the marketplace.
Q Is the era of owning music over?
A It’s totally over. When you look at the music business at its peak in 2003, artists could sell two million in the first week. It has imploded by nearly 80 per cent. I’m talking about all the money made from record sales. It’s just sad. It’s as if all of a sudden you woke up and said that every Italian restaurant is free. How will they stay in business?
Q Your music is on Spotify, of course.
A Every record company gives the music to Spotify. When I signed my deal back in 2001, there wasn’t anything called streaming. We, the musicians and record business, got caught flat-footed and it’s pretty rough. Spotify has paid the record company, but the record company doesn’t pay the artist. The record company keeps the lights on with the money made from Spotify. There’s going to be some sort of class action suit, maybe not in my lifetime, where someone stands up and says this has to change. Right now, we’re all trying to figure it out.
The most troubling thing is if you’re a talented kid in your 20s, you no longer look at being a songwriter.
It used to be if you’re a songwriter and you had a song on a Celine Dion record, you could buy a house, or set yourself and your family up nicely if you had a hit. But now all the young kids want to be in tech, live in San Francisco, and be the next Twitter dude. So you lose a big pool of talent because there’s no money in songwriting and producing. It’s sad.
When: Monday, June 25, 7 p.m. Where: First Baptist Church (140 Laurier Ave. W., at Elgin Street)
They’ve been calling the acclaimed British multi-instrumentalist and composer, 57, a genius since the 1980s, when his creative abilities burst forth in projects as disparate as the giddily iconoclastic jazz orchestra Loose Tubes and drummer Bill Bruford’s taut, fusiony band Earthworks. Bates’ 10-year-old Belovèd band is a piano trio that happily upends the conventions of that time-honoured format to let imaginations run wild, with dazzling results.
ERNESTO CERVINI’S TURBOPROP
When: Tuesday, June 26, 6:30 p.m.
Where: Top Shelf Main Stage (Marion Dewar Plaza)
A highlight in this year’s very promising Great Canadian Jazz series, this Juno-nominated, rambunctiously swinging sextet led by Toronto drummer Ernesto Cervini strikes the perfect balance between detailed and welldrawn composing and arranging and dynamic, all-in improvising. New York-based tenor saxophonist Joel Frahm is an especially ferocious and eloquent player in Cervini’s band, but the group’s most notable assets are its sense of shared purpose and, indeed, camaraderie.
TERENCE BLANCHARD FEATURING THE E-COLLECTIVE
When: Tuesday, June 26, 7 p.m. Where: First Baptist Church When star trumpeter Blanchard, 56, last played the festival in 2009, he brought a more acoustic and traditional jazz group to Confederation Park. But the E in E-Collective stands for “electric,” and Blanchard’s latest project is a more plugged-in affair that surrounds his commanding horn with hefty urban grooves and searing guitar. The group also applies its musical muscle in support of a message — its new album Live addresses gun violence in America.
A NOVEL COLLABORATION
When: Tuesday, June 26, 10 p.m. Where: NAC Fourth Stage From a fine seam of noteworthy European jazz groups playing this festival, the unique and evocative quartet called a Novel of Anomaly, fronted by power- ful, charismatic Swiss vocalist Andreas Schaerer and bolstered by Italian accordionist Luciano Biondini, is a must-hear. I’d recommend its Fourth Stage concert at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, except that it conflicts with the two previous picks. Fortunately, the group will play a second concert four hours later when it joins forces with the fearless Canadian improvisers Lina Allemano on trumpet and cellist Andrew Downing.
DAN WEISS STAREBABY
When: Friday, June 28, 8 p.m. Where: NAC Fourth Stage The common shorthand used to describe what New York drummer Weiss’s new quintet is up to is “jazz meets heavy metal.” That’s not wrong, but nor does it convey the breadth of what Starebaby does. Along with Weiss, the group features some world-class and open-minded sonic explorers — guitarist Ben Monder, keyboardists Craig Taborn and Matt Mitchell and bassist Trevor Dunn — immersing themselves in music that is definitely heavy, but is also unpredictable, atmospheric, bracing and honest.
KNOWER
When: Monday, June 25, 10:30 p.m.
Where: Tartan Homes Stage The Los Angeles-based indie, funk-meets-jazz-meets-electronica group has made a big splash with its eye-widening and addictive YouTube videos. But the group, built around firebrand drummer and multi-instrumentalist Louis Cole and vocalist Genevieve Artadi, gives dynamite shows too, which earned them opening spots for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame group Red Hot Chili Peppers last year in Europe plus tours this year in Europe and Asia. Expect high-octane music that should have young fans up on their feet and grooving.