Glass ceiling creates a new sound
One thing I found particularly interesting in my interview with Chris Botti, which I published on the Trumpet Dynamics podcast last week, was how he had aspirations to be known as a great jazz trumpeter – yet the first album he published was a pop album. In fact, hardly anyone today knows him as a pure jazz trumpeter at all. But if you ask Chris (as I did during my first interview with him 8 years ago) he’ll tell you he’s a jazz trumpeter through and through, and always has been.
So why did he not try to etch his name into the annals of great jazz trumpeters with a solo jazz album of his own when he launched his solo career?
One word.
Wynton.
If you’re not a trumpeter, you must understand that Wynton Marsalis is legendary among the community. No one tries to say Wynton is the GOAT or any such nonsense, but no one disputes he’s among the greatest of all time.
At any rate, Wynton had recently released a jazz album of his own, circa 1990. Chris listened to the album, and said to himself, “Damn. No way will I ever top that.”
So Chris rather shrewdly published an album that is labeled jazz, but, well, let’s just say he’s taken some flack from jazz purists the world over for his liberal interpretation of the word.
I’ve seen all sorts of criticism of him over the years, which is just the way it is when you produce something that’s consumed by any amount of people. Some people love it, some hate it, and the vast majority are passionately indifferent either way.
What stuck out to me is that rather than try to “outdo” something that can’t possibly be outdone, he got creative and invented a new sound in the process. Just this afternoon, I was playing some of Chris’ music on my laptop and my wife said, “Is that the guy you talked to last week?”
Listening to him for just a couple of hours left an impression on her.
And in my opinion, Chris is a terrific ambassador of an instrument that was once a stalwart in pop culture but has lost its appeal to the masses over the years.
The “glass ceiling” put up by one individual was the catalyst for a great career of one that is a virtuoso in his own right.
If you missed the interview with Chris, you can listen to it here: https://trumpetdynamics.com/botti