PSO gets a little help from friend Botti

Marvin and Chris Botti: Smooth as Silk Thursday, 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 8 p.m. Heinz… Marvin and Chris Botti: Smooth as Silk Thursday, 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 8 p.m. Heinz Hall, Downtown 412-392-4900 www.pittsburghsymphony.org

When it comes to marquee names in the world of instrumental music, a pair doesn’t get much bigger than the duo hosted by the Pittsburgh Symphony Pops at Heinz Hall this weekend.

Billboard No. 1 jazz recording artist Chris Botti and 12-time Oscar-nominated composer Marvin Hamlisch team up with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra to play romantic ballads and old jazz standbys in a performance billed ‘Smooth as Silk.’

Botti has toured the world as a masterful trumpet player, headlining solo concerts and appearing with such varied guest vocalists as Diana Krall, Andrea Bocelli, Jill Scott and Sting. Owner of three Billboard Top Jazz albums since 2004, Botti is known for his more restrained and velvety pop-infused jazz. After a performance in December 2005, Botti was labeled by music critic Don Heckman of the Los Angeles Times as ‘virtuosic,’ ‘inventive’ and ‘engaging.’

Hamlisch serves as the Pittsburgh Pops principal conductor. A graduate of Julliard Music School and Queens College, the composer has since received a plethora of musical awards, not the least of which being three Oscars for various film scores and a Pulitzer Prize for his Broadway musical, ‘A Chorus Line.’

If it’s true that talent can only be improved upon by experience, then the perfect mix of both will be on display this weekend with the Pittsburgh Pops – a mix worthy enough of a precious summer’s evening to be spent indoors.