Needless to say, a good time was had by all.
"Chris Botti Live in Boston" will become a television special and DVD in March 2009. But Thursday night - the first of his two-night stand - it was a relaxed evening with good friends and good music. Botti, a jazz-pop trumpeter who has made the leap from in-demand sideman to Top-40 star, certainly achieved his goal of bringing a wide range of styles to Symphony Hall, which was by turns a jazz bar, rock club, opera house, R&B joint, and "American Idol" showcase.
The latter incarnation came courtesy of lovely Katharine McPhee. The season 5 runner-up did a fine job tamping down her slick pop inflections during a commendable cover of "I've Got You Under My Skin." The bigger surprise, though, was Mayer, whose languid and swinging take on the ballad "Glad to Be Unhappy" would have made Sinatra proud.
Botti's instrumentals - among them "Ave Maria," "Caruso," and Miles Davis's "Flamenco Sketches" - were pristine. (They weren't always well-chosen; the trumpeter's icy-cool sound was practically an affront to Leonard Cohen's soul-stirring "Hallelujah.") But Botti's tones were beautifully formed, the man can hold a high note and charm a crowd, and his four-man band was beyond tight and tasteful.
And yet Botti disappeared, as mortals tend to do, when his former boss Sting took the stage to sing tricky, winsome "Seven Days." "Goodnight!" Botti shouted, only half in jest, following the rock star's first, midset appearance.
Wielding comparable wattage but a good deal less musical power was Steven Tyler, in fully scarved regalia, for wan renditions of Aerosmith's "Cryin' " and "Smile," his contribution to Botti's 2005 duets album.
Josh Groban hasn't been showered with a lot of love in these pages, but his beautifully restrained performance of "Broken Vow," an anthem in desperate need of a home in the movies, earned him a new convert last night. Likewise Sy Smith, a member of Botti's touring band, won hearts and minds with her rousing and unlikely funk cover of "The Look of Love."
Oh yes, the Pops were there. Keith Lockhart and company supplied sweet swells and cinematic flourishes - the perfect icing on a successful pledge drive.
Joan Anderman can be reached at anderman@globe.com.
