On the evening of March 6, Chris Botti, the world-famous Grammy Award winner and trumpet god, led an all-star orchestra to present a jazz audio-visual feast to Guangzhou music fans at the Xinghai Concert Hall. Before the performance, he accepted an exclusive interview with Nandu Entertainment and revealed that he admired Chinese pianist Yuja Wang very much and hoped to have the opportunity to collaborate with her. This is his first performance in Guangzhou. He laughed and said that there was too much delicious food and "I might gain a lot of weight."
chris Botti is one of the most popular instrumentalists in the world. He was selected as one of the 50 most stylish men in the world by the American "People" magazine for his handsome appearance. He has collaborated with many superstars, including Paul Simon, Sting, Lady Gaga, John Mayer, Yo-Yo Ma, etc. In 2023, Chris Botti signed with the famous jazz label blue note and released his latest album "Vol. 1". This tour also uses the new album as the basic structure, which not only means a new beginning, but also represents more possibilities.
chris botti
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still likes cross-border collaborations
As one of the most successful performers who crossed over from the jazz world to the pop music world, chris botti returns to jazz in "vol.1", focusing on acoustic jazz and classic jazz, but in the album There was a rearrangement of Coldplay's famous song "Fix You". He said that he had always been a fan of Coldplay and thought their music had beautiful melody and lead singer Chris Martin had a beautiful voice. This time I chose "Fix You". It took about 3 minutes to find the inspiration for the arrangement, and I will perform it live during this tour.
chris Botti said that he has always liked to add elements of pop music to his albums, and has always liked to try cross-border collaborations with classical music. Violinist Joshua Bell was also invited to "Vol.1". We toured together 7 years ago. "The arrangement back then was very challenging, and Joshua played very well. We always wanted to record it. When I started making an album again, I called him immediately. Although 7 years have passed, he I readily agreed. In addition, I also like Yuja Wang very much. She can play a variety of different but equally gentle resonances. I will be attracted by the texture of her tone. If I have the opportunity in the future, I hope to cooperate with her."
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created an all-star lineup.
signed with blue note and launched a new album. The tour is also in the same vein. Chris Botti said that an all-star lineup was created for this performance, including drummer lee pearson, bass daniel chmielinski, guitar leonardo amuedo, piano julian pollack, violin anastasiia mazurok As well as vocalists such as Alicia Miles and John Splithoff, they are all outstanding celebrities. "We tour 270 days a year. I value the musicians' on-the-spot performance and improvisation. Together we present unique music, every performance They are all unique.” In the new album "vol.1",
will reinterpret Chet Baker's famous song "My Funny Valentine". During the performance, Chris Botti will also walk off the stage with violinist Anastasiia Mazurok to play in the crowd, and this song The famous song also had a great influence on Chris Botti himself. He said that after learning the trumpet for a period of time, he heard Miles Davis play this piece of music on a record for the first time. "I have never heard music like this. It was beautiful and heartbreaking. It made my brain do something completely different." The reaction seemed to take me into another world. His playing style was beautiful and touching, which resonated with me and made me want to become a jazz musician like him."
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The inheritance of jazz
During the interview, Chris Botti mentioned Miles Davis many times. Regarding the tacit understanding with the musicians when improvising, he quoted what Miles Davis once said, to the effect that a trumpet player can achieve success by holding the trumpet. Feeling the other person's playing level, a lot of tacit understanding is the communication of body language. In the "Vol.1" album, Chris Botti also chose to reinterpret Miles Davis's classic songs such as "Someday My Prince Will Come". "I will draw inspiration from many famous trumpet players, such as Freddie Hubbard, Lee Morgan, but Miles Davis was definitely an important influence."
chris Botti said that he attaches great importance to the current spread of social media on music scenes, but do not disturb the people next to him. "A few years ago, I went to see the Pearl Jam band's rock concert. The audience in the front row held up their mobile phones the whole time. It seemed that many fans were It’s a bit of an exaggeration to go to shows through mobile phones, but a lot of people have established themselves through social media.” Chris Botti said that what really attracts him is the jazzy scene. "I want to continue to make performances and albums with jazz as the core. I hope to bring more simple and pure happiness to fans, rather than simply attracting attention with skills and dazzling. Many When people go home and listen to classic albums in a private space, they have more emotional resonance."
Written by: Nandu reporter Ding Huifeng Intern Chen Zishan Liang Xiaoxuan
Photography: Zhong Ruijun
