Chris Botti
Blue Note131 West 3rd Street, New York 10012
Chris Botti brings his 22nd Annual Holiday Residency to Blue Note for this late set, part of a four-week run spanning mid-December into early January, including Christmas and New Year’s Eve. The billed artist is Botti, with no specific lineup confirmed for this date. He has made the club a December home since 2005, and the residency has a history of impromptu guests, including Sting and John Mayer in 2011. This is one chapter in a long-running New York holiday engagement rather than a one-off appearance.
Botti is a GRAMMY-winning trumpeter whose career has crossed, in Blue Note Records’ words, “from jazz renown to pop stardom.” His work with Vol. 1 returns to acoustic jazz and classic standards, while his collaborators have included Sting, Paul Simon, Barbra Streisand, Lady Gaga, Tony Bennett, Aretha Franklin, Herbie Hancock and Yo-Yo Ma. Blue Note highlights his “glowing tone and regal melodicism.” A Paris Move review hears “inspiring jazz” in his playing, singling out a “soft touch” and “skillful reimagining” of standards. At Blue Note, Botti’s holiday run places that polished trumpet voice in a setting he has described as 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.