Night Sessions

by Chris Botti

Overview

At the precise moment when a corporate reshuffling and a reduced roster led to death knells in the press for Columbia Records' jazz division, Chris Botti was signing on after three albums at rival Verve, the jazz arm of Universal. Along with Bela Fleck, poached from Warner Bros., Botti seemed to represent the new lean-and-mean Columbia Jazz, an eclectic, contemporary artist with considerable crossover potential to go with his jazz legitimacy. While the dominant sound on Botti's Columbia debut is naturally his haunting, minor-key trumpet playing, highly reminiscent of the more introspective aspect of Miles Davis, his original music, co-written with one-name producer Kipper, is strongly reminiscent of the pop-jazz approach of his most recent employer, Sting, whose tour hiatus created the opportunity for the recording of the album. Sting even contributes a song, the samba-paced "All Would Envy," complete with lyrics describing a wealthy May-December marriage, sung by Shawn Colvin. But elsewhere his spare, stylish, multi-cultural music provides a guiding principle. Botti is true to the basic tenets of smooth jazz, which hold that a steady beat within a propulsive rhythm track must be maintained, over which the soloist makes his presence felt. But he and Kipper keep things simple, often using an acoustic guitar to create musical textures more suggestive of Rio than west Los Angeles, where the record was actually cut. And even with his less-is-more style of playing, Botti is capable of coming up with melodies that would be strong enough to support lyrics if someone wanted to write them. (A good example is "Light the Stars.") "Easter Parade," the final track, is by the members of the Blue Nile, another good touchstone for the trumpeter's moody, atmospheric sound. The result is a step above most of the cookie-cutter contemporary jazz albums of the day. ~ William Ruhlmann

Product Details

Release Date:	10/30/2001
Label:	Bmg / Sony Music / Sony Music Entertainment
UPC:	0886919808223

Tracks

1. Lisa
2. Miami Overnight
3. Streets Ahead
4. Interlude
5. All Would Envy
6. Best Time
7. When I See You
8. You Move Me
9. Blue Horizon
10. Light the Stars
11. Through an Open Window
12. Easter Parade

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Chris Botti   Primary Artist,Trumpet
Jeff Lorber   Guest Artist,Keyboards
Vinnie Colaiuta   Guest Artist,Drums
Christian McBride   Guest Artist,Bass
Shawn Colvin   Guest Artist,Vocals
Kipper   Keyboards
Lani Groves   Vocals
Dominic Miller   Guitar
Shane Fontayne   Guitar
William Frank "Bill" Reichenbach Jr.   Trombone
Luis Conte   Drums,Percussion
Abe Laboriel, Jr.   Drums
La Camilla   Vocals
Billy Childs   Keyboards
Kazu Matsui   Shakuhachi
Marc Shulman   Guitar
Jeff Scott Young   Keyboards
Jimmy Johnson   Bass
Heitor Pereira   Guitar

Technical Credits

Kipper   Engineer,Producer,Programming,Drum Programming
Chris Botti   Engineer,Liner Notes,Composer
Fred Remmert   Engineer
Dominic Miller   Composer
Ed Cherney   Mixing
Robert Bell   Composer
Jimmy Hoyson   Engineer
Nathaniel Kunkel   Mixing
Rick Behrens   Engineer
Paul Buchanan   Composer
Billy Childs   Composer
Jay Goin   Engineer
Marc Shulman   Composer
Wesley Seidman   Mixing,Mixing Assistant
Mary Maurer   Design,Art Direction
Christopher Robert   Engineer
Fabrizio Ferri   Photography
Matt Marron   Engineer
Irving Berlin   Composer
Kevin Killen   Engineer
Bobby Colomby   Executive Producer
Ted Spencer   Engineer
Ted Jensen   Mastering
Sting   Composer