Trumpeter Chris Botti Comes to Play Van Wezel, 4/17

Playing with his uniquely expressive sound and soaring musical imagination, trumpeter Chris Botti comes to the Van Wezel on Friday, April 17, 2015 at 8pm.

With four number one albums on the Billboard's Jazz Albums listings and a Grammy for "Best Pop Instrumental Album," Botti has firmly established himself as the world's largest selling jazz instrumentalist.

Botti seemed destined to become a musician from a young age. Born in Portland, Oregon, he was encouraged to pursue music by his mother, a concert pianist. He also had an early taste of the international world that would become his primary territory as a successful performing artist; when Botti was in the first grade his father took the family to live in Italy for several years. A different, but equally significant connection took place when Botti was twelve, and he heard Miles Davis play "My Funny Valentine." The impact it had not only persuaded him to make a life time commitment to the trumpet, it also launched the affection for melody, space and balance that have been intrinsic aspects of Botti's musical vision.

After attending Indiana University, and studying with the highly regarded jazz educator David Baker, the great trumpet teacher Bill Adam, jazz trumpeter Woody Shaw and jazz saxophonist George Coleman, Botti moved to New York in the mid-'80s. His early career was spent crafting his skills in settings reaching from the Buddy Rich Big Band and Frank Sinatra to Natalie Cole and Joni Mitchell. Throughout the '90s and into the new century, Botti played extensively with Paul Simon, and had an especially creative association with Sting.

Now a major artist in his own right, performing worldwide, selling more than three million albums, Botti has found a form of creative expression that begins in jazz and expands beyond the limits of any single genre. With his new album Impressions and the albums that preceded it, he has thoroughly established himself as one of the important, innovative figures of the contemporary music world.

Tickets are $35.00-$70.00 and are available at VanWezel.org, the Box Office, or by calling 941-953-3368.