Fri. Aug. 10 

  Chris Botti, the world’s most popular trumpeter, was on the phone from his Los Angeles home. The news here? Home. Botti was touring so much over the past decade he didn’t really live anywhere specific.
   “Last year, I finally bought a place I’m calling home,” Botti says. “I’m on the road 300 days a year, so the 65 days here feels like I’m on vacation and it’s wonderful.”
    What does Botti do during his infrequent downtime?
    “I’m into chess and yoga,” he says, “but, basically, it’s a pretty one-track life. I just tour, play the trumpet and along the way try to get in a good meal or two. That’s enough for me. I don’t need to be an entrepreneur and have my own fashion line. Playing this kind of music is best. Enjoy the ride and work on your craft. I’m a much better trumpet player now than I was at 37 or 27.”
    Botti and his backing quartet play the Cape Cod Melody Tent Friday Aug. 10. 

JSInk: You played with Sinatra in 1984. You opened for and played with Sting for two-and-a-half years, starting in 2000. First Frank. Memories?
Botti: It was my very first professional gig, two weeks of concerts. I kind of sat in with the Nelson Riddle Orchestra with Buddy Rich, the whole trip. I played a really bad solo in sound check and he said, “Nice solo, kid,” and I thought we were best friends. So I went up later and said, “Hi Mr. Sinatra, I’m Chris Botti from Oregon!” and I shook his hand. His assistant said, “Chris, tone it down, don’t bother Mr. Sinatra. You’re playing in the horn section. We’ll call you.”
And Sting?
I’ve learned everything from him. I owe him literally my career. Every single road leads back to him. He made a promise to me that he’d bring my sound to the whole world. I’ve learned so much stuff from being around him. He has that thing where he projects as a rock star, but he’s very happy to turn around and see someone go off and be proud of that. You don’t see that in rock stars anymore. They’re just worried about themselves. They don’t give it up to high levels of musicianship

 Fri. Aug. 10 

  Chris Botti, the world’s most popular trumpeter, was on the phone from his Los Angeles home. The news here? Home. Botti was touring so much over the past decade he didn’t really live anywhere specific.
   “Last year, I finally bought a place I’m calling home,” Botti says. “I’m on the road 300 days a year, so the 65 days here feels like I’m on vacation and it’s wonderful.”
    What does Botti do during his infrequent downtime? 
    “I’m into chess and yoga,” he says, “but, basically, it’s a pretty one-tr

ack life. I just tour, play the trumpet and along the way try to get in a good meal or two. That’s enough for me. I don’t need to be an entrepreneur and have my own fashion line. Playing this kind of music is best. Enjoy the ride and work on your craft. I’m a much better trumpet player now than I was at 37 or 27.”
    Botti and his backing quartet play Cape Cod Melody Tent Friday Aug. 10.

 JSInk: You played with Sinatra in 1984. You opened for and played with Sting for two-and-a-half years, starting in 2000. First Frank. Memories?
Botti: It was my very first professional gig, two weeks of concerts. I kind of sat in with the Nelson Riddle Orchestra with Buddy Rich, the whole trip. I played a really bad solo in sound check and he said, “Nice solo, kid,” and I thought we were best friends. So I went up later and said, “Hi Mr. Sinatra, I’m Chris Botti from Oregon!” and I shook his hand. His assistant said, “Chris, tone it down, don’t bother Mr. Sinatra. You’re playing in the horn section. We’ll call you.”
And Sting?
I’ve learned everything from him. I owe him literally my career. Every single road leads back to him. He made a promise to me that he’d bring my sound to the whole world. I’ve learned so much stuff from being around him. He has that thing where he projects as a rock star, but he’s very happy to turn around and see someone go off and be proud of that. You don’t see that in rock stars anymore. They’re just worried about themselves. They don’t give it up to high levels of musicianship.
You played your first local headlining gig at Scullers in 1999, booked by Fred Taylor, and you’ve played there five more times.
Fred is so great. Around the world, there are scattered some exceptional promoters and music fans and Fred is at the top of the list. He has a wonderful energy, is really into the music and nurturing people on their way up.
You started playing at nine.
The trumpet’s one of those instruments where you’ve got to dedicate your life to it early. By the time you’re 15 or 16, it’s game over. You’re either on your way or you’re finding another profession.
For a kid, the trumpet is not exactly the hippest instrument to play or biggest girl magnet.
That’s for sure.
Your reasoning was…
Your success in life is 99 percent drive, and most people who are so driven are blinded by their drive. I looked at the trumpet and I thought, “It’s really cool because Miles Davis plays the trumpet.” He is stylist and had that charm and that “X factor” and it translated to me that way. I was blind to all the other trumpet players, and went after this thing.
What was it about Miles’ sound?
This is something I deeply feel - that the music that haunts you or is melancholy or makes you cry or be sad is the music that sticks with you forever, in the instrumental world. Miles had all the fire in his trumpet playing and he could go crazy with technique, but when he played “My Funny Valentine” or “I Thought About You,” those things take your breathe away with the simplicity and the honesty and the tone.
What kind of time do you put in?
I sit at home and I practice all day and I analyze other people’s chops and the way they approach music. The trumpet is something if you don’t keep up every day, you’re going to go one way and that’s downhill. I don’t want my career to go downhill and I don’t want my chops to go down, so I play the horn two-to-four hours a day if I’m off the road. If I’m touring, probably 45 minutes and then the two-hour show, which is a long blow with lots of acrobatic stuff.
What did the concerts you did two years ago at Symphony Hall with the Boston Pops (and Sting, Steven Tyler, Josh Groban, John Mayer and Yo Yo Ma) and the subsequent CD/DVD do for you?
They were so kind to me those two nights. That Boston DVD has really made my career take flight, over anything I’ve ever done, probably. We had such a great orchestra and a great room. It’s really a cross section of my whole career. My association with Sting is there, my love of classical music is there with Yo-Yo Ma, and there’s the “wow factor” of having Steven Tyler there and doing such a great job.

Tix at SSMC: $57-$38 and at CCMT $62-$43

Music Circus: 130 Sohier St., Cohasset, 781-383-9850 http://www.themusiccircus.org/events.php

Melody Tent: 21 W. Main St., Hyannis, 508-775-5630   http://www.melodytent.org/event-detail.php?eventId=372