Chris Botti scores big, despite never having a radio hit

Chris Botti may be one of America’s most successful living musicians, despite never having a hit song. The Grammy-winning trumpet player, who knew at age 12 that he wanted to play professionally, attributes the live taping of his 2009 concert, “Chris Botti in Boston,” as one of the most influential points of his career.

You got three Grammy nominations for “Chris Botti in Boston,” a live taping at Symphony Hall back in 2009. Do you have vivid memories of filming that?

Oh yes, we lost to the Beatles. Isn’t that distressing? But oh yeah of course. The fact that John Mayer, Sting, Steven Tyler, Yo-Yo Ma, came to that two night taping…it was a real huge honor to have them there.

Did that show really change you career significantly?

Definitely. I’m an artist that can play around the world, but i’ve never had a hit song. I have a show that people know they’re gonna come and see great musicians, but there’s not one single radio hit. And that’s because the Boston show was a concert that became a hit. It was a very risk oriented, old school performance.

Last year the video of you playing the National Anthem on Monday Night Football and making football player Reggie Wayne tear up went viral. Did that performance open up a window to a whole new group of fans for you?

Certainly there were people coming to the shows and saying they loved it. It was a trip that it went viral like that. It’s funny cause it’s a very slowed down, melancholy version of the National Anthem. Most people come out and throw out every bag of tricks into the books. Usually in the world of TV, they want you to do under 90 seconds… That was 112 seconds.

If you go:

Dec. 6 – Dec. 8, 7:30 p.m.
Wilbur Theatre
246 Tremont St, Boston
617-248-9700
www.thewilbur.com