Chris Botti
Blue Note131 West 3rd Street, New York 10012
Chris Botti brings his 22nd Annual Holiday Residency to Blue Note for a December date in a four-week run that extends through early January, including Christmas and New Year’s Eve. The billed performance centers on the world-renowned trumpeter, who has made the club his December home since 2005. The residency has a history of impromptu musical guests, with Sting and John Mayer among those who have appeared in 2011, though no guests are announced for this night.
Botti is a trumpeter whose long-running Blue Note holiday stand has become a New York fixture. The Wall Street Journal called him “a December institution in the Big Apple at the Blue Note,” a description grounded in more than two decades of returning to the room each winter. His past Blue Note performances have drawn guests including Sting and John Mayer, while attendees have ranged from Mary J. Blige to Paul Haggis. Botti himself describes the annual return simply: “Coming to the Blue Note for as many years as I’ve been is like coming home.”
Blue Note Jazz Club is a dedicated listening room in the heart of Manhattan's jazz district, where the music is the focus and the space is designed to let the sound fill the room. The club features a stage with a small audience area, and the atmosphere is one of quiet concentration on the music. Shows typically begin at 8:00 PM with a second set at 10:30 PM, and the audience sits on chairs close to the stage. The club has a bar, and drinks are available. The experience is primarily about listening to live jazz, with occasional gospel and soul performances, and the audience often stays to talk and enjoy the music after the sets.