NEW YORK — Chris Botti can't quite figure out how he ended up competing for a Grammy with the Beastie Boys, but he did get a kick out of finding his melodically romantic CD "Italia" nominated with the funk-rock group's "The Mix-Up" for best pop instrumental album.

The trumpeter, who drew a batch of enthusiastic Honolulu fans when he appeared at Blaisdell Center with the Honolulu Symphony Pops in 2005, never knows what to expect come Grammy season because he's essentially created his own musical genre. He mixes jazz, pop and, on "Italia," even classical influences, which means his music doesn't fit neatly into any category.

"It's sometimes hard to figure out what the committee is going to do, but I think it's fantastic that we're up against the Beastie Boys. ... That's something you don't think about when you're a kid growing up in Oregon," laughed Botti, during a conversation at his hotel before his band was to perform at the Blue Note jazz club.

Botti shares more in common with the other pop instrumental album nominees: Spyro Gyra ("Good to Go-Go"), Kirk Whalum ("Roundtrip") and Dave Koz ("At The Movies)," on whose album Botti guests on "The Shadow of Your Smile."

But he no longer can be lumped together with R&B-influenced smooth-jazz musicians as he was early in his career.

"With my music ... there's this constant dance that I'm doing between my affection for pop music and being around artsy pop musicians ... and my affection for Miles Davis ... and how do you marry those two together," said the 45-year-old Botti. "I think there's a huge appetite for jazz-influenced music which is melodic, accessible and reins it in but doesn't dumb it down at all."

Botti recalls that as a teenager in Corvallis, Ore., the jazz that inspired him to make music his career was Davis' spacey, melancholy ballad playing on early 1960s quintet recordings like "My Funny Valentine."

Botti also realized shortly after arriving in New York in 1986 to study with jazz trumpeter Woody Shaw that it was pointless for him to try to outdo Wynton Marsalis at rapid-fire bebop improvisations.

"If there's one strength I've ever had during the course of my career is realizing what I'm not good at," joked Botti, who didn't release his debut album, "First Wish," until 1995 at age 33.

Instead, he embraced working with the most sophisticated pop musicians, including Paul Simon, Joni Mitchell and Sting, who hired the trumpeter as the featured soloist on his 1999-2001 "Brand New Day" tour.

"Sting's the guy that's solely responsible for breaking the sound of my trumpet to the world," said Botti. "He's been on my CDs, DVDs and he's been family to me. I'll never be able to repay him."

Sting did a guest turn on Botti's breakthrough 2004 CD "When I Fall In Love," on which the trumpeter seductively slowed the tempos, used lush orchestral arrangements and emphasized American Songbook standards.

A BOOST FROM OPRAH

Boosted by an appearance on Oprah Winfrey's show, it not only topped the jazz charts but reached No. 37 on Billboard's Top 200, a rarity for a largely instrumental album. It also didn't hurt that Botti, with his tousled blond hair and green eyes, had the good looks to be named one of People magazine's "50 Most Beautiful People" in 2004 and make the gossip columns when he briefly dated Katie Couric.

His duets album, "To Love Again" (2005) with guest singers including Gladys Knight and Steven Tyler, was an even bigger hit, resulting in a PBS special and a Grammy for best instrumental arrangement accompanying a vocalist for "What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?" with Sting.

"Italia," his 10th album, is a heartfelt personal statement reflecting Botti's romantic connection to his ancestral homeland.

Botti sculpted the album around the title track, which he composed with producer David Foster, a 14-time Grammy winner, with lyrics by Italian pop star Lorenzo Cherubini. Tenor Andrea Bocelli gives an impassioned performance of "Italia" with Botti's trumpet lines tenderly wrapping around the lyrics.

"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," added the trumpeter, who was dressed casually but elegantly in a black sweater from Italian designer Costume National and handcrafted, custom-fit Earnest Sewn Jeans.

It's that sophisticated vision of Italy that Botti celebrates with a tasteful collection of classical music, Italian pop tunes like "Caruso" and "Estate," and Ennio Morricone film themes as well as standards linked to Italian-American crooners like Frank Sinatra.

Among the highlights is the trumpeter's relaxed duet with Dean Martin on "I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face," which blends well the original 1957 vocal track because it was recorded in the same Capitol Records studio in Los Angeles.

Botti takes the greatest pride in his almost classical trumpet playing on Ennio Morricone's haunting "Deborah's Theme" (from "Once Upon a Time in America") and the Puccini aria "Nessun Dorma."

Botti describes "Italia" as "more of a classical pop album than it is jazz" because there's less improvising than on any of his previous albums. "It's a much more buttoned-up record ... I kept this a much more melodic record."

Botti keeps a grueling schedule that finds him doing 220 concerts a year and spending his off days traveling, doing promotional work and recording, including such projects as playing on Marc Shaiman's soundtrack for the film "The Bucket List." He keeps himself in shape by practicing yoga.