David Foster Explains Why He Stopped Producing Music – and the Lucky New Song That Helped Change His Mind (Exclusive)

David Foster has returned to producing.

The pianist and musical mastermind behind the timeless hits of stars such as Whitney Houston, Celine Dion and Mariah Carey, recently helped Grammy-winning trumpeter Chris Botti create his new offering. Unlike Foster’s previous work on pop and R&B projects, this album is about that jazz.

“I think Chris is the greatest living jazz trumpet player. His shows are like a religious experience,” Foster says of what drew him to sign on to produce Botti’s new project, titled Chris Botti st. 1, Out now. “Luckily, he talked me into it, so I got to sit there for a week or two and enjoy these brilliant musicians led by Chris, nodding in approval or saying ‘Hey, why don’t you try this?'”

David Foster and Chris Botti.

John Abbott

He adds: “It was an easy way to produce unlike my whole life where I had to roll up my sleeves and get into the weeds. When I was at my peak, I was like a bull in a china shop.”

The album provided a wonderful return to the production scene, which Foster says he largely abandoned eight years ago after hitting a wall.

“Honestly, I’m bored of myself,” he says. “I didn’t get bored of the music business. In every decade I spent in it there were ups and downs, good music and crappy music. I just got bored of myself and the way I was making records.”

David Foster. Jim Jordan

For Foster, embracing jazz was a way to shake things up. “I grew up on jazz and really loved it, but I wasn’t very good at it,” he says. “It really upset me at first, like ‘God, why can’t I be a jazz player?’ But luckily I was given other skills. Working with Chris and someone like 18-year-old pianist Brandon Goldberg, who is phenomenal, it’s another way for me to be close to jazz without actually having to make jazz.”

If there’s one song Foster is particularly excited about, it’s Botti’s “Danny Boy,” which will be released this weekend in time for St. Patrick’s Day. Patrick. “He did an amazing version,” Foster says of the trumpeter’s sultry reimagining of a traditional Irish folk song. “So sad and beautiful.”

Chris Botti st. 1.

Blue Note Records

But when it comes to musical collaborators, Foster is an even bigger fan of his wife Katharine McPhee (39). The couple, along with their son Rennie (3), have been on the road with theirs for months An intimate evening tour that started last year.

Katharine McPhee and David Foster.

Courtesy of David Foster

Although he produced their recent Christmas album, “It wasn’t like producing,” he says. “It was just me and my wife in the studio, hanging out, making music. It’s always fun with her.”

Chris Botti st. 1 is now available.

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Source: HIS Education