Chris Botti at the Mountain Winery

On Friday, September 26th my wife and I had the chance to catch Chris Botti (click here) at the Mountain Winery (click here) in Saratoga (thanks to some free tickets from KKSF a local radio station). Chris is touring to support his "Italia" CD (released on September 25, 2007). "Italia," garnered the trumpeter a Grammy nomination for Best Pop Instrumental Album. The album takes on Botti's Italian roots as its theme."It really is a beautiful kind of love letter to Italy expressing the longing of someone who's not there," said Botti. "Italy has a romantic quality about it even for someone who's never been there ... the food, the fashion, the art, the landscape, the way the people live their life.". Chris played various tracks from his discography. His band was untouchable - guitarist Mark Whitfield and drummer Billy Kilson completely blew my mind. Chris was entertaining, funny, magical, has more restraint then most jazz musicians, and every note that he played was perfect.

The show was incredible. Mountain Winery is an amazing place to see a show. If you ever find yourself in the Bay Area during their concert season and there's someone you'd like to catch, catch them at Mountain Winery! I don't think we could've had a better time. If you have the chance to catch Chris Botti on this tour I highly recommend it. Extra special thanks to KKSF (click here for their website) for selecting my name and allowing me to go see Chris.

Mark Harvey