Who’s the sexiest trumpeter today?

Movie critic Rex Reed called him "the sexiest trumpeter since Chet Baker." Now, young, trim and handsome, Chris Botti certainly has the looks to live up to the description. In fact, he reminds me of a Botticelli angel getting ready to fall into hell in exchange for the right temptation. Then there is the sound of his trumpet, smooth as velvet, lushly textured and phrased like poetry. Like his looks, it is also quite sexy. As they say in the trades, those two make for one killer combination. Well, some 500,000 buyers have already fallen for it. That’s how many copies Botti’s last album When I Fall in Love has sold to date.

Given that, it is no surprise that Botti seems to have chosen to concentrate on making romantic albums. Take the When I Fall in Love formula of well-known love songs, jazzy arrangements and a famous guest or two but carry it further. I have to admit though that while his artistic credentials as a jazz artist are beyond question, I also feel that what he has been recording lately is merely middle of road music spiced up with some jazzy bits here and there. This is bad for an artist who while very young had already been compared to the legendary Miles Davis. But the formula works and is great for sales. And it is very difficult to argue with success during these difficult times.

So here is Botti again, and I must say he came up with the logical title for the sequel to When I Fall in love. The album is To Love Again The Duets. It has more guests for the duets than before. It has jazzier, sexier arrangements and a repertoire of some of the most romantic songs ever written.

The opening track is an instant winner. Gershwin’s Embraceable You is one of those tracks Botti chose to do solo and his sophisticated rendition easily lifts him out of the smooth jazz category to the real thing. His other solos are What’s New? I’ll Be Seeing You and To Love Again.

Also present once more are three of his guests from the When I Fall in Love album. Joining Botti again are Grammy winner Paula Cole who does My One and Only Love and Sting, ever the impeccable vocalist with Legrand’s What are You Doing The Rest of Your Life?. Pianist Billy Childs, who played in the haunting Cinema Paradiso in When I Fall in Love is back in several cuts along with album producer Bobby Colomby.

Botti’s stellar collaborators for his new album are: Michael Bublé with Let There be Love; Jill Scott in Good Morning Heartache; Paul Buchanan in Are You Lonesome Tonight; Gladys Knight with Lover Man; Renee Olstead in Pennies from Heaven; Rosa Passos in Here’s That Rainy Day and Steven Tyler with Smile.

You read that last name right. It is Steven Tyler of Aerosmith and hits like I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing. Tyler’s rendition of the Charlie Chaplin song with Botti’s trumpet backed by the London Session Orchestra has the simplest arrangement but it is also the most heart-wrenching. I must say rockers do have a unique affinity for the standards and Tyler’s reined-in vocals has such a dreamy, bittersweet quality one cannot help but fall in love with. He should do his own collection soon and I think Rod as in Stewart had better watch out. Tyler has the chops to be one mean rival.

Top jazz hits

Incidentally Michael Bublé’s Platinum selling album It’s Time which also includes a lovely duet of A Song for You with Botti has been ranked No. 1 in the Top Jazz hit chart of Billboard Magazine for four weeks now while his Caught in the Act CD remains at number four. Botti is also doing very well as per the list with his last two albums in the Top 10. You jazz buffs out there might also want to check out the other titles in the list:

Here goes: It’s Time by Michael Bublé; Thunderbird by Cassandra Wilson; To Love Again, The Duets by Chris Botti; Caught in the Act by Michael Bublé; At Carnegie Hall by the Thelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane; When I Fall in Love by Chris Botti; Careless Love by Madeleine Peyroux; Footprints by Karrin Allyson and Our New Orleans 2005: A Benefit Album by Various Artists.