CHRIS BOTTI: To Love Again

Columbia Records is readying the release of 'To Love Again', the much-anticipated new album of pop jazz standards from acclaimed trumpeter Chris Botti and nine superstar guest vocalists. 'To Love Again', the successor to Botti's RIAA gold album, 'When I Fall In Love', will be in stores on Tuesday, October 18.

Chris Botti has launched a U.S. tour in support of To Love Again (see full itinerary following).

'To Love Again', which is being released as both a traditional CD and as a DualDisc, showcases Chris Botti's inimitable velvet tone and sublime trumpet phrasings on 13 newly recorded pop and jazz standards featuring nine stand-out vocal performances by some of the greatest singers in modern pop, jazz, and rock.

Joining Chris on 'To Love Again' are guest vocalists Sting ('What Are You Doing The Rest Of Your Life'), Paula Cole ('My One And Only Love'), Michael Bublé ('Let There Be Love'), Jill Scott ('Good Morning Heartache'), Paul Buchanan ('Are You Lonesome Tonight'), Gladys Knight ('Lover Man'), Renee Olstead ('Pennies From Heaven'), Rosa Passos ('Here Comes That Rainy Day'), and, yes, that Steven Tyler (on Charlie Chaplin's 'Smile').

Rounding out 'To Love Again' are the instrumental tracks 'What's New', 'I'll Be Seeing You', 'Embraceable You', and 'To Love Again'. As on his last album, Chris Botti is joined once again by the London Session Orchestra, who provide lush tonal coloration to the album's arrangements.

The DualDisc edition of 'To Love Again' features an exclusive short film entitled 'Live From Studio A', which was shot in the famed studio at Capitol studios in Los Angeles. Chris and his quartet jammed as the cameras rolled, and the result is four songs that yield twenty three minutes of gorgeous sounding (and looking) jazz.

Two of the four songs performed here, 'To Love Again', and 'I'll Be Seeing You', also appear on the audio CD in their original/studio versions with full orchestra, while the other two songs, 'Flamenco Sketches' and 'Milestones', do not appear on the audio CD at all. The latter two songs mentioned are from the Miles Davis catalog. 'Flamenco Sketches' was originally released on 'Kind of Blue', while 'Milestones' first appeared on the Miles album of the same name. All four of these live performances are new and unique from the audio CD. An extra bonus: 'Flamenco Sketches' features guest saxophonist David Sanborn.

'To Love Again' follows the extraordinary success of Botti's groundbreaking last album, 'When I Fall In Love', which has sold more than 500,000 copies to-date.

Released on September 28, 2004, 'When I Fall In Love' tapped into the record-buying public's desire for classic romantic jazz sounds, quickly hitting the #1 slot on both the Traditional Jazz albums sales chart and the Top Jazz overall album sales chart.

Shortly after the album's release, 'When I Fall In Love' jumped an astounding 109 spots - from #146 (week ending 11/14) to #37 (week ending 11/21) on the Top 200, the biggest single week's sales leap of any traditional jazz album recorded by an instrumental artist to be released in the SoundScan era.

Botti's association with Sting - who sings with Botti on both 'To Love Again' and 'When I Fall In Love' - dates back to 1999, when the trumpeter joined the pop legend's band as featured soloist on the 'Brand New Day' tour, which lasted two-and-a-half years. Veteran of both the contemporary jazz world and mainstream pop studio scene, Botti has worked with Joni Mitchell, Natalie Merchant, and renowned film composer John Barry, among others. Film critic Rex Reed has called him "the sexiest trumpeter since Chet Baker." Botti joined Paul Simon's band in 1990, where he remained for the next five years, and, in 1995, he recorded his solo debut, 'First Wish'. After scoring the 1996 film 'Caught', Botti returned in 1997 with his second LP, 'Midnight Without You', which was followed by 'Slowing Down the World' two years later. His 2002 watershed album, 'Night Sessions', peaked at #2 on the Top Contemporary Jazz Albums chart while his seasonal collection, 'December', released the same year, hit #7 on the same chart.

Released in September 2003, 'A Thousand Kisses Deep', entered at #20 on the Billboard Top Heatseekers chart and hit the #3 position on the Top Contemporary Jazz chart.