Chris Botti

Mentioned in this January 2, 2010 Smooth Jazz Vibes interview.

Another part of the equation that helps create the special tone is made via the instrument itself. Chris Botti plays a rare 1939/1941 Martin Committee trumpet with a slightly larger bell. The horn was popular from the late 1940s until the mid-1960s played by legends such as Miles Davis, Chet Baker, Dizzy Gillespie, Maynard Ferguson, Al Hirt, Kenny Dorham and Clifford Brown. Botti purchased the trumpet in 2003. Botti has said that “it was like finding a rare Jaguar or a rare Porsche. The sound is just so dark and beautiful, with a really soft and inviting tone." Botti also uses a 3C silver plated mouthpiece from Bach made in 1926, after retiring his 1920 3C Bach mouthpiece. He also uses a Leblanc Vacchiano Harmon mute from the 1950s.

The same trumpet is also featured in this December 23, 2016 Facebook post by Botti.

The Trumpet... #martin #committee #handcraft #largebore #3

Used on A Thousand Kisses Deep, as stated by recording engineer Joe Chicarelli in this December 1, 2003 Electronic Musician interview.

What mic were you using on trumpet?

Mostly a Royer 121, which you wouldn't expect to work in that situation because it's bidirectional. You'd think there would be a lot of bleed into the back of the mic. I tried it because I've used Royers on trumpets before and they sound nice and warm. On some songs, Chris thought the Royer was a little too dark, so we ended up using a Neumann U 67. But overall, I liked the Royer, especially for muted trumpet, which can sometimes get a little nasty in the midrange. We also used a Sony C37A for some songs; I remembered it was Herb Alpert's favorite trumpet mic!

Used on A Thousand Kisses Deep, as stated by recording engineer Joe Chicarelli in this December 1, 2003 Electronic Musician interview.

For the trumpet I had my Martech MSS10, which I love. It's very open, and with the Royer it was a perfect combination. The Royer is warm and round, and the Martech is very open on the top.

Mentioned in this January 2, 2010 Smooth Jazz Vibes interview.

Another part of the equation that helps create the special tone is made via the instrument itself. Chris Botti plays a rare 1939/1941 Martin Committee trumpet with a slightly larger bell. The horn was popular from the late 1940s until the mid-1960s played by legends such as Miles Davis, Chet Baker, Dizzy Gillespie, Maynard Ferguson, Al Hirt, Kenny Dorham and Clifford Brown. Botti purchased the trumpet in 2003. Botti has said that “it was like finding a rare Jaguar or a rare Porsche. The sound is just so dark and beautiful, with a really soft and inviting tone." Botti also uses a 3C silver plated mouthpiece from Bach made in 1926, after retiring his 1920 3C Bach mouthpiece. He also uses a Leblanc Vacchiano Harmon mute from the 1950s.

Used on A Thousand Kisses Deep, as stated by recording engineer Joe Chicarelli in this December 1, 2003 Electronic Musician interview.

What mic were you using on trumpet?

Mostly a Royer 121, which you wouldn't expect to work in that situation because it's bidirectional. You'd think there would be a lot of bleed into the back of the mic. I tried it because I've used Royers on trumpets before and they sound nice and warm. On some songs, Chris thought the Royer was a little too dark, so we ended up using a Neumann U 67. But overall, I liked the Royer, especially for muted trumpet, which can sometimes get a little nasty in the midrange. We also used a Sony C37A for some songs; I remembered it was Herb Alpert's favorite trumpet mic!

Mentioned in this January 2, 2010 Smooth Jazz Vibes interview.

Another part of the equation that helps create the special tone is made via the instrument itself. Chris Botti plays a rare 1939/1941 Martin Committee trumpet with a slightly larger bell. The horn was popular from the late 1940s until the mid-1960s played by legends such as Miles Davis, Chet Baker, Dizzy Gillespie, Maynard Ferguson, Al Hirt, Kenny Dorham and Clifford Brown. Botti purchased the trumpet in 2003. Botti has said that “it was like finding a rare Jaguar or a rare Porsche. The sound is just so dark and beautiful, with a really soft and inviting tone." Botti also uses a 3C silver plated mouthpiece from Bach made in 1926, after retiring his 1920 3C Bach mouthpiece. He also uses a Leblanc Vacchiano Harmon mute from the 1950s.

Used on A Thousand Kisses Deep, as stated by recording engineer Joe Chicarelli in this December 1, 2003 Electronic Musician interview.

What mic were you using on trumpet?

Mostly a Royer 121, which you wouldn't expect to work in that situation because it's bidirectional. You'd think there would be a lot of bleed into the back of the mic. I tried it because I've used Royers on trumpets before and they sound nice and warm. On some songs, Chris thought the Royer was a little too dark, so we ended up using a Neumann U 67. But overall, I liked the Royer, especially for muted trumpet, which can sometimes get a little nasty in the midrange. We also used a Sony C37A for some songs; I remembered it was Herb Alpert's favorite trumpet mic!

Used for "one or two songs" on A Thousand Kisses Deep, as stated by recording engineer Joe Chicarelli in this December 1, 2003 Electronic Musician interview.

Did you compress the trumpet?

Overall, no. I don't like to compress trumpet unless the player's dynamics aren't good, which wasn't a problem with Chris. Compression compacts the sound and makes it tighter, so on one or two songs, where we wanted that type of sound, we used an old Teletronix LA2A.

Used on A Thousand Kisses Deep, as stated by recording engineer Joe Chicarelli in this December 1, 2003 Electronic Musician interview.

I primarily used 1073 and 1095 Neves on the keyboards, acoustic bass, and guitars. I also used Brent Averill 312 API preamps and the new Focusrite 428 — the one with the meters. It's a 4-channel preamp that's reminiscent of the sound of the old Focusrite 110s. I used that some of the time on trumpet, background vocals, guitar, and a lot on the acoustic piano.