MUSIC SCENE Chris Botti Headlines Clearwater Jazz Holiday October 15

(8/31/2026) In this episode of Music Scene, host Nanette Wiser interviews Chris Botti about jazz, his Botti at Sea cruises and life on the road, loving the audience with his cool lifestyle jazz. Catch him at Clearwater Jazz Holiday Oct. 15 as the opening headliner.
👉Tickets for Chris Botti and Clearwater Jazz Holiday clearwaterjazz.com.
👉For more on Chris Botti, visit chrisbotti.com. 
👉 Enjoy "Paris," one of Botti's most haunting and eloquent performances after my interview.
THE STORY GRAMMY winning jazz artist Chris Botti is no stranger to Tampa Bay, swinging through town annually to play Ruth Eckerd Hall, an arena, even a past Super Bowl. But for the first time ever, he will kick of Clearwater Jazz Holiday’s 2026 season in Coachman Park on October 15th, before heading to Chicago the next night to play with Sting, who he toured with for many years. 

It’s been a wild international year for Blue Note Records artist Botti, who loves performing in intimate jazz clubs and larger venues including stops in Australia, and as always a holiday residency in New York City’s famed Blue Note Jazz Club.With a career spanning over nearly three decades, Chris has collaborated with icons including Sting, Paul Simon, Barbra Streisand, Tony Bennett, Lady Gaga, Andrea Bocelli, Herbie Hancock and Yo-Yo Ma, and performed on legendary stages around the world. He’s been on Oprah and PBS, and even scored Caught, a film with James Olmos, years ago. And you never know who might show up on stage or for his performances, as did Dave Koz at his Blue Note Tokyo gig in June.

For those who love Italia and Paris, Botti promises to play the songs you love his CJH concert as well as acoustic jazz and classic standards from his 2023 Vol. 1 CD. “I turned 60 in 2022, at a time that seemed like a restart for so many things in the world,” Botti says. “I wanted to strip away all the orchestral arrangements and special guests and focus more on my playing, the playing of my band, and these jazz classics that we always love playing on stage.”

 Botti balances performing with recording, hoping he will be lucky enough touring well into his 70s. “Because, you know, the trumpet's a very physical instrument. It's not as physical as being an NBA player where one ankle injury and you're out but it is a real intense workout,” says Botti when asked when he will record again. “With a lot of good fortune, I hope to roll into your 80s and 90s like Doc Severinsen who is still alive and and playing.” When he’s not making music, he likes zipping around a private racetrack near his Palm Springs home, a hobby he picked up three years ago.

As for getting up close and personal with his fans, he’ll embark on his third Botti at Sea cruise  September dates with Elvis Costello, Boz Scaggs, Melody Gardo, Candy Dolfer,  Josh Groban, Wycliffe Gordan and a host of musical stars from all genres. Departing Los Angeles with a stop in San Francisco and Vancouver, guests are in awe of experience. “They may think they're just going to hear a trumpet player and just jazz, but it’s so much more for me, a sophisticated high end musical tour. You’ll hear jazz trumpet, classical violin, singers from all genres, opera music and more.” bottiatsea.com

Growing up in Corvallis with his concert pianist mother who also taught piano and living in Italy with his parents, Botti was hooked on music and jazz at an early age. “My mother cold called the principal trumpet player in the Portland Orchestra to tutor me, and would drive me to clubs at 14 to sit and play with 14, you know, like 14, into a little jazz club and said, you know, my, my son might wanna play with you and this guy Ron Steen, and I ended up playing in his band for years.” 

Inspired by the jazz greats, his conversation is peppered with references to everyone from Miles Davis to Keith Jarrett to Pat Metheny to Brad Mehldau. He points to landmark albums like Davis’ Kind of Blue, John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman, or Metheny’s duo outing with Charlie Haden, Beyond the Missouri Sky as models for the kind of “lifestyle” music he set out to make.

From singing Christmas Carols on the streets of New York City with three horn player pals (who later went on  tour with the Rolling Stones) to his rise to the pinnacle of the jazz world, Botti credits the graciousness and support of both Paul Simon and Sting. “Through some good fortune I became a studio musician on other people's record and in 1990, Paul Simon was going on a worldwide tour and always picked his musicians from the studio world first. Someone recommended me and I was in Paul's band for 8 years, then got the very great break of being in Sting's band, until he pulled me aside and said, ‘Chris, you're not going be in the band anymore, however, you are going to be my opening act, so it's either sink or swim time.”

 His advice to young musicians, and to himself? “I call it the yellow brick road theory. You can see Oz in the distance, but you just need go one little brick at a time and you try not to like overwhelmed. The small snapshots of playing clubs, practicing, hard work and listening to the greats  will evolve into a larger career and life, but when young musicians ask me like how do I become famous like you, I'm like I have no idea,’ he laughs humbly.

Botti loves collaborating on and off the stage, and hopes to get back into studio next year. “It’s so authentic and inspiring,” says Botti, whose Vol. 1 recording produced by David Foster (who will perform in Tampa Bay this year) garnered rave reviews.  “There’s a cinematic quality that I like to hear in music, and that I’ve found that audiences really love,” he says. “The essence of that remains on this album. It’s paramount to me that there is incredible beauty and elegance to all of the performances and the way they’re recorded.” 

 It’s Botti’s clarion, heart wrenching trumpet that seizes he spotlight throughout Vol. 1. From the way he sings the yearning melody of “Danny Boy” to the keening, airy melancholy of his Harmon mute playing on Miles Davis’ “Blue In Green”; the hushed tenderness he brings to Coldplay’s “Fix You” or his shimmering flurries on “Someday My Prince Will Come;” Botti leaves no doubt of his mastery or his ability to speak directly from the soul of the instrument.

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