Chris Botti - For All We Know

GUYS! I don't know how I missed this (stress, probably), but my long-time dream husband the one and only Chris Botti released a new single LAST MONTH...and it is GORGEOUS. Go buy it now!!

iTunes//Amazon

look at THIS!

In what is perhaps the most exciting musical news I've gotten in years (YEARS, I tell you, I do not exaggerate when it comes to Chris Botti), Chris Botti (a.k.a. Ruth's Future Husband as he was known affectionately for many years on my previous blog) has a brand-new album coming out April 17th. That's next month people! I haven't been able to discover much about the album other than the cover (thanks to Amazon) and the tracklist (thanks AOL Music) --

1. Concierto De Aranjuez
2. Losing You
3. Tango Suite
4. You Are Not Alone
5. Oblivion
6. Per Te (For You)
7. Setembro
8. Sevdah
9. Summertime
10. Prelude No. 20 in C Minor
11. Contigo En La Distancia
12. Over the Rainbow
13. What a Wonderful World

And for anyone reading this who may be unaware of the sheer awesomeness that is Chris Botti, here's a video from his Chris Botti in Boston concert special, performing "Emmanuel" with violinist Lucia Micarelli --

Review: Christmas Is the Time (To Say I Love You) by Katharine McPhee

I’m a very casual watcher of American Idol, during a good year I may watch one whole entire episode of the show. But AI has produced several singers I've come to love and whose projects I’ve enjoyed, namely Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, Daughtry, and Katharine McPhee. McPhee has a gorgeous voice, perfectly suited for breathing new life into jazz and pop standards, and Christmas Is the Time (To Say I Love You) plays to those strengths. The result is one of the classiest, most timeless Christmas albums to be released in recent memory. The album opens with “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” where McPhee is accompanied by one of my all-time favorites, trumpeter Chris Botti. It’s the perfect marriage of vocal and instrumental. This is followed by a catchy piano and tambourine-driven version of “Jingle Bells” – it’s not exactly big band swing, but it’s as close as this album comes and the result is undeniably fun. The McPhee-penned “It’s Not Christmas Without You” reminds me a bit of Mariah Carey’s “Miss You Most (At Christmas Time,” both heart-wrenching, romantic ballads of missing one's love during the holidays. Carols like “Oh Holy Night” and “Little Town of Bethlehem/Away In A Manger” are stunning in the simplicity of their arrangements and in McPhee’s vocal delivery, placing the purity of her voice and the message of the lyrics front and center. “Christmas Is the Time” turned out to be a surprise favorite of mine – fun and upbeat and catchy, this song of the Christmas spirit’s ability to transform everyone who gives into it is an album highlight. McPhee puts a more upbeat, pop spin on “What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve,” followed by a gorgeous, heartfelt rendition of the perennial classic “White Christmas.” The album closes with a stunning version of “Who Would Imagine a King,” my absolute favorite track on the disc. The clarity and purity of McPhee's vocal here lends the song an almost heart-rending quality - for all its simplicity, the song is a showstopper. Christmas Is the Time is the very definition of understated elegance. Instead of opting for slick production techniques and musical bombast, McPhee's given fans a timeless Christmas record that is gorgeous in its simplicity and fully showcases her lovely voice, sure to be enjoyed for years to come.

Here's a Katharine McPhee webisode I found on YouTube about the recording of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" and featuring CHRIS BOTTI!! :)

Review: Italia by Chris Botti

I originally reviewed Chris Botti's Italia album in November 2007. This project is available in two formats - a single CD and a CD/DVD digipak. This review is for the digipak edition.

With Italia, Chris Botti has once again delivered a lushly orchestrated album of astonishing beauty, full of memorable, breath-taking performances. He not only proves there's wisdom in the old adage, if it ain't broke, don't fix it - but instead of resting simply on his laurels, with each successive album he's succeeded in making his "formula" of richly orchestrated, romantic standards better. Where To Love Again focused on duets, Italia focuses on Botti's trumpet playing with only a handful of vocal tracks (similar to his break-out album, When I Fall In Love). The inspiration of the album is, of course, the music of Italy, and in keeping with that theme Botti interprets two compositions by master film composer Ennio Morricone - the hauntingly beautiful "Deborah's Theme" from Once Upon a Time in America and "Gabriel's Oboe" from The Mission. The lushly orchestrated, David Foster-penned "Italia" pairs Botti with one of contemporary Italy's most famous voices, Andrea Bocelli. "Estaté" is Botti's gorgeous solo version of the track that he accompanied Bocelli on for the tenor's Under the Desert Sky project. Three of the tracks on Italia mine the realm of classic popular song, evocative of Italy because of their close association with interpretations by the likes of Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin. "The Very Thought of You" is a sublime duet with Paula Cole - her voice, featured on When I Fall In Love and To Love Again, once again proves to be an ideal complement to Botti's trumpet. With her whisper-soft vocal and Botti's velvety-smooth trumpet playing, it's a seductively dreamy performance. "I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face" pairs Botti with Dean Martin (this track also appears on the Forever Cool duets album). The arrangement is swinging and playful, and Botti's trumpet effortlessly plays off of Martin's smooth vocals. As he proved with To Love Again, Botti is an expert at complementing a vocal, and the fact that the duet with Martin sounds so real, so convincing, is a testament to his skill as a performer. The trio of up tempo numbers is rounded out with "The Way You Look Tonight," the Fields-Kern classic featuring a sparkling arrangement that I can easily imagine Sinatra swinging to in his prime. The album ends with a stunner - Botti's jaw-droppingly gorgeous rendition of "Nessun Dorma," the highlight of the instrumental tracks. As some other reviews have noted, there's not much improvisation on this disc. However in my opinion the lack of improvisation highlights Botti's skill as a trumpeter -- there's no room for error in a song like "Nessun Dorma," and he delivers a spine-tingling, spot-on accurate performance. The control he exhibits on such tracks is quite frankly awe-inspiring.

The deluxe edition features a DVD with four bonus audio tracks. The short DVD (it's about twenty minutes) features some behind-the-scenes footage of the making of the album, the highlights being Bocelli in the studio with Botti recording "Italia" and Botti talking about his inspiration for making the album. What makes this edition really worthwhile, though, are the four bonus tracks - "Emmanuel," "Flamenco Sketches," "If I Loved You," and "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes." "If I Loved You" is another superb duet with Paula Cole, her vocal perfect for the song's romantic, wistful tone (incidentally in the DVD portion Botti states that Cole records all of her vocals for his projects in one take). "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" is what I like to think of as a Casablanca song - the arrangement and delivery evoke all the romance of that film and others like it - it's classy and timeless. Italia is another wonderfully addictive offering from Chris Botti's seemingly endless reservoir of creativity and talent. I had the thrill of seeing him perform live earlier this year - if you ever get the chance, GO. When you see him perform live and cut loose with his band, and then contrast that with the beautifully orchestrated, soaring trumpet playing he exhibits on an album like Italia, one's respect for the scope of his talent increases tenfold.

Review: Live With Orchestra & Special Guests by Chris Botti

I originally reviewed this Chris Botti project in September 2006. This review is for the DVD/CD package, which to my knowledge is no longer available. But the DVD is, and I link to it below:

Two words to describe Chris Botti's latest release: ear candy. Or maybe auditory bliss would be a more accurate description? Either way, you get my point - I love this DVD. There are no gimmicks here - this is a beautiful, slickly produced concert that first and foremost showcases Botti's virtuosic trumpet playing (which is heavenly!). Most of the musical selections are culled from his latest studio album, the duets-heavy disc To Love Again (read my review of that album on Amazon). The duets are truly duets in every sense of the word - Botti's playing partners with each vocalist perfectly, and the two work to compliment each other, resulting in first-class performances. My favorite duets performances are Paul Cole singing "My One and Only Love," Renee Olstead singing "Pennies from Heaven" (amazing vocalist!), and Gladys Knight singing "Lover Man" (a fantastic performance, very classy). The weakest vocal is Jill Scott's on "Good Morning Heartache" - I love the studio version, but her vocal improvisation here is somewhat jarring, to say the least - but the song is still a great vehicle for Botti's playing and I love the lyric. Sting also appears for two songs - "What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?" and "My Funny Valentine" (it's a nice touch when Botti serenades Sting's wife sitting in the audience during the latter number). The program also features some swoon-worthy solos from Botti, especially "Someone to Watch Over Me," "When I Fall In Love," and "One For My Baby." His improvisation on these tracks is absolutely stunning, and the songs provide the perfect showcase for Botti's tremendous talent. The arrangements for all of the tracks sparkle, and it's fun to see and hear Botti and the band cut loose and have some fun with the music. This DVD comes packaged with a bonus CD featuring all the songs from the concert. This is an excellent live recording and a great document of Botti's skill with the trumpet. Now...not to sound (too) impatient or anything, but I am so ready for a new studio album!

Review: To Love Again by Chris Botti

Day one of the great move of 2010 is over, and my brain is mush. But I don't want things to get too stale on the ol' blog until I'm back up and running in the new apartment (and hopefully saner, LOL!), so I thought I'd pull a couple of old music reviews from the "archives" that I've never shared on this blog. First up is a couple of Chris Botti album reviews (a.k.a. Ruth's Future Husband, LOL!). I originally reviewed To Love Again in December 2005.

To Love Again is Botti's follow-up to last year's collection of romantic standards, When I Fall In Love. That album was primarily a collection of lushly orchestrated instrumentals that showcased Botti's breathtaking skill with the trumpet, supplemented by select duets with Paula Cole and Sting. In contrast, To Love Again features vocalists from across the musical spectrum duetting with Botti on nine of the disc's thirteen tracks. My favorite duet tracks include Michael Buble' singing "Let There Be Love" and Renee Olstead singing "Pennies from Heaven." The arrangements of both songs positively sparkle and give Botti a chance to really cut loose and swing with his trumpet. Botti's trumpet playing is often likened to Chet Baker's mellow sounds, but on these tracks I found the collaborations reminiscent of the type of recording Harry James and Tommy Dorsey used to do with their bands...the vocalists (stars in their own rights) complemented the music, and vice-versa. Olstead's performance is particularly noteworthy...her outstanding vocal skill has grown by leaps and bounds since the release of her self-titled jazz album last year. Each of the duets on this disc are perfect examples of an ideal give-and-take relationship between the vocal and the trumpet...one never seeks to overwhelm the other, which makes the listening experience absolutely intoxicating (some of Sinatra's concept albums that he recorded for Capitol Records - particularly ones arranged by Nelson Riddle - are excellent examples of this effect). To Love Again is a brilliantly executed album and I cannot wait to see the artistic heights Chris Botti takes his listeners to with his next offering!