Chris Botti shares the billing with Diana Krall at PPAC on Tuesday.

Have you ever heard of a jazz trumpeter being chased by the paparazzi and named one of the 50 most beautiful people?

Neither did we — until Grammy-winning musician Chris Botti came along. The Oregon-born jazz star with the blond, matinee-idol looks can only chuckle about the photographers who stalk him while he’s on a date with current flame Katie Couric, and about being named to People’s “50 Most Beautiful People” list.

Botti, 44, who paid his dues on the tour bus with the Buddy Rich Big Band, Sting and others, is as surprised by this turn of events as anyone.

“I get teased relentlessly by my friends,” said Botti, who appears Tuesday at the Providence Performing Arts Center with singer Diana Krall. “Our society is set up for 22-year-old pop stars who may or may not be in jail at the time; that’s what the press covers. But for People magazine to pick a 40-plus jazz musician is a very cool thing. American pop culture is a sad state of affairs, and in order to get recognition, you need lots of frosting on the cake.”

Influenced by Miles Davis’ ballad playing, Botti (pronounced “bo-tee”) realized early that he would have to set himself apart from the traditional jazz scene. At the same time, and probably to this day, straight-ahead jazz trumpet is personified in many minds by Wynton Marsalis.

“When I moved to New York in the mid-’80s, Wynton broke onto the scene and, out of total respect, I thought I’d better discover what sort of music would put me in the best possible light, and that’s pop music,” Botti said from his Los Angeles home. “There were a lot of young trumpet players coming up and trying to play swinging bebop trumpet. I knew instantly I didn’t want to do that.”

BOTTI HAS issued eight CDs, including the 2004 hit When I Fall in Love, which topped jazz charts for 17 weeks and sold more than a million copies. His latest is To Love Again, a star-studded 2005 collaboration with guests Sting, Paula Cole, Gladys Knight, Michael Buble and Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler.

On radio, Botti’s warm, tuneful sound is welcomed in a variety of formats: smooth jazz, fusion, pop instrumental and standards.

“He’s really a fresh and unique talent who broke through as a trumpeter back when the smooth jazz world was flooded with saxophonists,” observed Gregg Steele, senior director of music programming at Sirius Satellite Radio. “It was a challenge at first, but his personality and charisma really helped set a tone for the kind of personality he’s become. He’s an artist that will have a long, long career. And people should really experience him live.”

For his part, Botti says he was inspired by the jazz instrumentalists of the ’70s, who found lucrative secondary careers in the world of pop record sessions.

“When I was coming up, I noticed a whole bunch of jazz musicians, like David Sanborn, Steve Gadd and Richard Tee, who mixed it up with pop music and found a huge audience, and that was my benchmark,” Botti explained. “I figured I would try and do that sort of thing myself.”

Before launching his solo career, the trumpeter recorded with such pop stars as Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Natalie Merchant, Paul Simon, Burt Bacharach and Frank Sinatra. At one point in 1984, as part of the Buddy Rich ensemble, Botti backed Sinatra at the Universal Amphitheatre for two weeks. It was there that he made a memorable faux pas.

“I made a complete fool out of myself, is what it was,” Botti recalled with a laugh. “One night, I played my solo and Frank complimented me on it. I immediately became delusional and thought we were buddies, and he’d want to hang out with me. So, I went up and tried to bond with him. His assistant came over, put her arm gently around me, and quietly said, ‘Never bother Mr. Sinatra again.’

“Then I went on the road — and Buddy Rich fired me. He was a notoriously difficult bandleader.”

BOTTI’S breakthrough came when Sting hired him for his band in 1999. The trumpeter traveled for 2 1/2 years on Sting’s “Brand New Day” tour.

“Sting made the difference for me,” Botti said. “We were friends that went beyond music, and we had a great musical collaboration, too. I joined his band, and we became best friends. He’s like family.”

Botti is currently on tour with a quintet and is doing a series of summer dates with Diana Krall that includes Tuesday’s show. His stage shows are more lively than his smooth jazz recordings might suggest.

“We make records to relax people, to put them in a mellow mood,” Botti said. “On stage, we’re jazz musicians, and we try to excite ourselves as much as the audience.”