Thirty
years ago in 1979, famous Blood, Sweat & Tears founding drummer
turned producer extraordinaire Bobby Colomby was about to begin
his now historic production of what this writer believes to be among
the finest instrumental rock albums ever made—the first self-titled
Group 87 album, released on black vinyl Lp in 1980 on Columbia
Records. Flash forward to 2009, Colomby imparts his famous producer
skills to the Columbia Records release of Chris Botti In Boston.
While the trumpet sound in Group
87 belongs to now iconic film music composer and New Age pioneer
Mark Isham, the trumpet magic of Chris Botti clearly belongs to a
new generation of music makers, but the magic is there nevertheless.
With keen memories, this fan watched in vain as Group 87 sadly perished
in an early ‘80s prog-rock blaze of glory. Perhaps eschewing
the ultimate act of infinite artistic integrity that was the original
Group 87—Colomby’s 2009 production of Botti’s In
Boston more sagaciously sticks with the big time show biz element
of modern music and in doing so, Botti comes across as the Chet Baker
of the 21st century jazz-rock generation. Blending film score type
efforts to neo Broadway, Sinatra cool and Miles-flecked fusion jazz—all
framed
for mass appeal through the auspices of Colomby’s flashy production—the
live CD/DVD of In Boston spotlights Botti’s trumpet backed
up by the legendary Boston Pops Orchestra, while working in an array
of guest star singers including Sting, Steven Tyler (a
gut wrenching take of Charlie Chaplin's "Smile), John Mayer
(sounding like Tony Bennett here!), the operatic Josh Groban,
classical cellist Yo-Yo Ma, Sting’s guitarist Dominic
Miller and Botti’s band including guitarist Mark Whitfield
and drummer Billy Kilson. Recorded and filmed live in concert
at Symphony Hall in Boston on September 18 and 19, 2008, In Boston
comes packaged with a 13 track CD paired and an expertly filmed
and recorded DVD of the two hour concert, plus a forty minute documentary
of the show. 1979, Mark Isham, 2009 Chris Botti. Clearly, Bobby Colomby
must have a thing for fantastic trumpet players! www.ChrisBotti.com
