Upper Extremities / Chris Botti / Some Questions

[KGHofSF]

Hello All

I'm here listening to Blue Nights, the Bruford / Levin Upper Extremities live CD and it raised a couple of questions for me.

First off, its a quite cool / enjoyable release. Second Off, Chris Botti does an admirable job of playing trumpet on this. BUT, as far as I can tell, this about the ONLY interesting thing Chris ever did. Am I missing something? Is there another release in which Chris is involved in playing interesting music? Or was this a youthful indiscretion before he went on to have a solid (if Very smooth & Poppy) career. Are there any interviews in which Chris discusses Upper Extremities relative to what he did after? Or is this another example of the Quincy Jones / Nat King Cole syndrome in which a talented jazz performer / musician decides that "I've got all the 5 star Downbeat reviews I need, now I gotta worry about my retirement. . .

Inquirin minds don't actually NEED to know, but are a bit curious. . .

any insights would be welcome. . .

regards
KGH

[Dave (in MA)]

Hello All

I'm here listening to Blue Nights, the Bruford / Levin Upper Extremities live CD and it raised a couple of questions for me.

First off, its a quite cool / enjoyable release. Second Off, Chris Botti does an admirable job of playing trumpet on this. BUT, as far as I can tell, this about the ONLY interesting thing Chris ever did. Am I missing something? Is there another release in which Chris is involved in playing interesting music?

The studio album?

[Polska]

I seem to remember Bruford saying (perhaps in his bio) that Chris wanted the band to continue after their short stint of live gigs but it turned out to be more of a "one-off" project. Probably due to the other musicians schedules.

[Dave (in MA)]

I seem to remember Bruford saying (perhaps in his bio) that Chris wanted the band to continue after their short stint of live gigs but it turned out to be more of a "one-off" project. Probably due to the other musicians schedules.

My recollection is that Bruford was the only holdout, but I can't recall where I read that. (And it was before he retired)

[bigbassdrum]

He did some work with Sting:
In 1999, Botti was invited to tour with Sting as a featured soloist in the Brand New Day tour. The two-year run culminated in All This Time, a CD/DVD-taping and webcast performance from Sting’s estate in Tuscany on September 11, 2001. Botti attributes his relationship with Sting as having changed the course of his career.

I saw Chris open for Sting around 2003 or so

[Nearfest2]

He was also the musical director/band leader for The Carloline Rhea Show, but I'm sure you knew that.

[interbellum]

In my collection Chris plays on albums from Wes Martin (which also features Mick Karn), Shane Fontayne, David Torn, Michael Whalen, Kip Winger and of course on the two BLUE-albums.

[mellotron storm]

The studio album they did is one of my all time favs. And Botti is a big reason for that with his dissonant and adventerous playing. There's some absolutely nasty playing on that one, even David Torn seems to have lost his mind on that one.
Funny enough CD Universe had sent me an update a few months ago and it had Botti's latest solo album and I wondered as well if he did anything else worthwhile other than the romantic ballad-like stuff he seems to be known for these days.

[Yaman Aksu]

before he went on to have a solid (if Very smooth & Poppy) career.

BTW, his "very smooth & poppy" work started before B.L.U.E., not strictly after. For example an album called "Midnight Without You". Then, around the time of B.L.U.E., he released one called "Slowing Down the World" -- Sting sang on one song on that -- that album is the only one I know well enough from him.
Many years before all of the above, he was in the band on Paul Simon's Concert In The Park (the 1991 one, not the 1980s one w/ Garfunkel).

[ScottAM]

I've been a big Chris Botti fan since the start of his solo career, although I lost interest when he started doing the "standards" thing, though I'm happy for him that he's achieved big success now.

I recommend everyone check out his first solo album, aptly titled "First Wish". It's always had big appeal to me and although I wouldn't call it "prog" it would be appealing to many of you. This album has been a staple of mine for decades, I highly recommend it. His next two albums "Midnight Without You" and "Slowing Down the World" (and even 4th "A 1,000 Kisses Deep") do start heading in the direction of smooth-jazz a little much, but there's still some winning tracks on each album, including the Sting track. Also check out "Playing by Heart" for his Chet Baker tribute.

He's largely abandoned the style of his first solo releases. I too would be interested to hear how that evolution happened. I assumed some producer took him under his wing and said, "You can keep making these records of your original material for a small audience, or you can go this other direction and be adored by millions by playing the songs they already know and love." I'd be interested to know if he feels artistically satisfied at this point, or has any yearnings to do his own interesting material again.

Oh, also, the first track I heard of his was on Windham Hill's "The Bach Variations" album where he does a gorgeous arrangement of Andante. That's worth getting as a solo track, too.

[rcarlberg]

BUT, as far as I can tell, this about the ONLY interesting thing Chris ever did. Am I missing something?

Nope. Not at all.

After "discovering" Botti in B.L.U.E. I dipped into his solo career, picking up "Midnight Without You" (1997), "Slowing Down The World" (1999), "Night Sessions" (2001) and "Italia" (2007). Gotta say all were huge disappointments -- smooth jazz with a touch of schmatlz. I think there's even singing on one of them. Really remarkable that this is the same dude who played in B.L.U.E. in 1998!! His solo stuff is just lazy lazy lazy.

The only other CD I've found that scratches the B.L.U.E. itch is "Cloud About Mercury" by David Torn (1987) which is Torn, Bruford, Levin and Mark Isham -- 11 years before B.L.U.E.!! Now Isham I can believe! His work in "The Beast" soundtrack is very much in the same vein -- as are Jon Hassel and Kenny Wheeler on David Sylvian's "Alchemy - An Index of Possibilities."

[interbellum]

Nope. Not at all.

After "discovering" Botti in B.L.U.E. I dipped into his solo career, picking up "Midnight Without You" (1997), "Slowing Down The World" (1999), "Night Sessions" (2001) and "Italia" (2007). Gotta say all were huge disappointments -- smooth jazz with a touch of schmatlz. I think there's even singing on one of them. Really remarkable that this is the same dude who played in B.L.U.E. in 1998!! His solo stuff is just lazy lazy lazy.

The only other CD I've found that scratches the B.L.U.E. itch is "Cloud About Mercury" by David Torn (1987) which is Torn, Bruford, Levin and Mark Isham -- 11 years before B.L.U.E.!! Now Isham I can believe! His work in "The Beast" soundtrack is very much in the same vein -- as are Jon Hassel and Kenny Wheeler on David Sylvian's "Alchemy - An Index of Possibilities."

Door X (1992) from David Torn features Botti, Mick Karn, Bruford etc. It's a bit more accessible than Cloud About Mercury.

[Dave (in MA)]

The only other CD I've found that scratches the B.L.U.E. itch is "Cloud About Mercury" by David Torn (1987) which is Torn, Bruford, Levin and Mark Isham -- 11 years before B.L.U.E.!! Now Isham I can believe! His work in "The Beast" soundtrack is very much in the same vein -- as are Jon Hassel and Kenny Wheeler on David Sylvian's "Alchemy - An Index of Possibilities."

For more of that guitar & trumpet thing, you might try any of the albums that feature Terje Rypdal and Palle Mikkelborg:

Waves
Descendre
Skywards
Lux Aeterna
Vossabrygg

or anything with Eivind Aarset and Nils Petter Molvaer:

1997: Khmer (Aarset)
2000: Solid Ether (Aarset)
2002: NP3 (Aarset)
1998: Électronique Noire (Aarset)
2001: Light Extracts (Aarset)

[Jay.Dee]

The only other CD I've found that scratches the B.L.U.E. itch is "Cloud About Mercury" by David Torn (1987) which is Torn, Bruford, Levin and Mark Isham -- 11 years before B.L.U.E.!!

David Torn's Mercury project was a blueprint for the decade later BLUE sessions. A pity that their fantastic performance at the Frankfurt Jazz Festival from 1987 (with Mick Karn replacing Levin) has never got any official release:

[KGHofSF]

For more of that guitar & trumpet thing, you might try any of the albums that feature Terje Rypdal and Palle Mikkelborg:

Waves
Descendre
Skywards
Lux Aeterna
Vossabrygg

Got Descendre and Vossabrygg. How do the others compare (Similar)?

or anything with Eivind Aarset and Nils Petter Molvaer:

1997: Khmer (Aarset)
2000: Solid Ether (Aarset)
2002: NP3 (Aarset)
1998: Électronique Noire (Aarset)
2001: Light Extracts (Aarset)

I'll have to check some of those out. As I'll have to hunt down Cloud About Mercury.

Another Good Trumpet and Guitar album is Mushroom w Eddie Gale - Joint Happening

And thanks to all for the input

regards
KGH

[Dave (in MA)]

Got Descendre and Vossabrygg. How do the others compare (Similar)?

Waves and Skywards are probably more accessible. Aarset has also worked with Paolo Fresu and Jon Hassell, but without a drummer (mostly), those might not exactly scratch the same itch.

[Dave (in MA)]

or anything with Eivind Aarset and Nils Petter Molvaer:

1997: Khmer (Molvaer)
2000: Solid Ether (Molvaer)
2002: NP3 (Molvaer)
1998: Électronique Noire (Aarset)
2001: Light Extracts (Aarset)

Oops, I'd previously listed them incorrectly as all under Aarset's name.

Something live:

[Ground and Sky's Ghost]

I can't say anything about Botti's post-BLUE albums, but I can say that he seems like a really nice guy.

My wife and I went to the BLUE performance at Orion Studios in Baltimore, and since it's a fairly long drive we got there just after the show had started. Each of the guys in the band went on stage one-by-one and played for a while before the next guy came out.

When we got there, Botti and Torn were still standing in the hallway waiting to go on, so the guy working the door held my wife and I up and said we couldn't enter until the whole band was on stage.

Botti told him it was no problem and basically ushered us into the room. Very cool of him.