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Dimitriou's Jazz Alley welcome multiple Gold, Platinum and Grammy winning trumpeter Chris Botti, in support of his first Blue Note Records release, Vol. 1, for five nights and eight shows. Band members are: Chris Botti (trumpet), TBA (sax), TBA (guitar), TBA (piano), TBA (bass), Lee Pearson (drums), Caroline Campbell (violin), Veronica Swift (vocals), and John Splithoff (vocals). Show times Wednesday and Sunday at 7:30pm, show times Thursday – Saturday at 7:30pm and 9:30pm. Doors will open at 6:00pm Wednesday and 5:30pm Thursday – Sunday.This show is supported by KNKX.
ARTIST INFO
GRAMMY-winning trumpeter Chris Botti has been one of the most popular instrumentalists in the world for nearly three decades; he’s collaborated with some of the biggest superstars on the planet, including Sting, Paul Simon, Barbra Streisand, Lady Gaga, Tony Bennett, Frank Sinatra, Aretha Franklin, Bette Midler, Joni Mitchell, Steven Tyler, Andrea Bocelli, Herbie Hancock, Yo-Yo Ma, and others; he’s topped the jazz charts with numerous albums, earned multiple Gold and Platinum records, performed with symphony orchestras and on prestigious stages from Carnegie Hall to the Hollywood Bowl to the Sydney Opera House.
In short, Chris Botti really needs no introduction. Yet with his Blue Note Records debut, he’s offering one anyway. Vol.1 is in many ways a fresh start for the trumpeter. Having successfully crossed over from jazz renown to pop stardom, Botti’s first album in more than a decade finds him crossing back, with a small group project focused on acoustic jazz and classic standards.
While Botti could boast of the major names with whom he’s shared stages, this project allows him to share his enthusiasm for the jazz greats past and present that excite him – 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.
Of course, Botti couldn’t have found a more ideal home for this artistic rebirth. Blue Note has been a standard-bearer of jazz throughout its storied history, and the trumpeter found a receptive partner in label president Don Was. “Anyone that's lucky enough to say they're on Blue Note Records should be pinching themselves,” Botti says. “It's a fantastic honor. I had great runs on Verve and Columbia, so it’s amazing to now arrive on the most famous traditional jazz record label.”
Not that Vol. 1 is a complete about-face – longtime fans will immediately recognize Botti’s glowing tone and regal melodicism, as well as his flair for investing the narrative of a song with high drama and vibrant emotion. Above all, it’s Botti’s clarion, heart wrenching trumpet that seizes he spotlight throughout Vol. 1.
Joining the band is vocalist Veronica Swift who first gained major international attention in 2015 when she won second place in the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz International Vocals Competition. This landed her a weekly residency at the historic NYC venue Birdland Jazz Club; it was here she sparked the interests of Wynton Marsalis and Chris Botti, and in 2017 she went on to tour with their respected groups as well as with her own group.
Having been born into a family of world-renowned jazz musicians (Pianist Hod O’Brien and vocalist/educator Stephanie Nakasian), Veronica Swift is rooted in bebop and refers to it as “her first language.” She grew up on the road with her parents, spending her early years in theater green rooms amongst Jazz royalty as her family traveled from show to show. At age 9, Veronica began taking the stage alongside her parents and her performing career began. She went on to record her first album at age 10, her second at 13, and at age 11 she headlined her first show at Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola at Jazz at Lincoln Center, NYC.
In 2019, Mack Avenue Records released her acclaimed album Confessions when she was just 25 years old. She demonstrated her flair for conceptual song cycles and arranging on her follow-up album, This Bitter Earth, as well as her draw towards other genres (such as rock).
Due to its social context, This Bitter Earth (2021) landed her a five-star review in Downbeat magazine, the cover of JazzTimes (voted best jazz vocal album 2021), and granted her a knighthood in L’ordre Des Arts et Lettres in The French Republique.
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
2033 6th Ave, Seattle, WA, United States, Washington 98121
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