Scotty Barnhart at the Blue Note

Whether it is performing as a featured soloist with The Count Basie Orchestra in venues all over the world, playing muted solos behind legends Frank Sinatra, Cab Calloway, Joe Williams, Rosemary Clooney, or Tony Bennett, appearing with pianist Marcus Roberts at Carnegie Hall, giving lectures at universities in South Africa, Japan, Europe, and all over the United States, or leading his own quintet at major Jazz festivals and night clubs, musicians and critics alike have acknowledged the emergence of an exciting and powerful voice in the world of Jazz. Trumpeter, composer, arranger, author, recording artist, and university professor of jazz studies, Scotty Barnhart began receiving critical acclaim from his work with Marcus Roberts who featured him alongside Wynton Marsalis on the 1990 release of Deep In The Shed, and the accolades continue.

Barnhart’s  earliest exposure to music was hearing his mother sing in the choir at Atlanta’s historic Ebenezer Baptist Church where he was christened by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and baptized by Dr. King, Sr. In addition to singing in the youth choir, Scotty began playing trumpet solos during regular Sunday morning worship services and special occasions and continued throughout high school and college and went on to earn many awards for his musicianship.

Scotty discovered his love for Jazz when his parents took him to see The Count Basie Orchestra at the age of twelve. At age seventeen, this passion was fueled with a serious desire to learn to play Jazz after seeing the Basie Orchestra in concert again and having a long conversation with Basie veteran trumpeter, Sonny Cohn. Two weeks later, while touring Europe with the Jazz Abroad Tour, Scotty met Wynton Marsalis in London’s famed Jazz club, Ronnie Scott’s. A friendship began and Marsalis recognized Scotty’s talent and gave him one of his own custom designed trumpets when Scotty began playing with Marcus Roberts, who had been pianist/orchestrator for Marsalis for six years. Opportunities with Roberts and others were almost ended when mistakes by dentists left him unable to play the trumpet for eleven months. Repeated surgery was required to repair and rebuild after orthodontists caused severe bone and tooth loss. Down, but not out, Scotty used this period to listen to countless Jazz recordings and study jazz piano, composition, and arranging, and he became the pianist for the FAMU Jazz Orchestra until he could resume playing the trumpet.

The Deep In The Shed recording, Scotty’s first, reached the number one spot on the Billboard charts. New York Magazine declared it as “potentially the most important Jazz recording of the 1980′s.” Other recordings featuring Barnhart are Robert’s As Serenity Approaches, on which he plays the title track, written especially for him by Roberts; and Pontius Pilate’s Decision, the debut recording from trombonist/producer Delfeayo Marsalis. All of these critically acclaimed recordings feature what Marsalis calls “one of the fattest and prettiest trumpet tones I have ever heard.”

All of the aforementioned led to Scotty being offered a position with The Count Basie Orchestra, which he accepted in January 1993. While touring with the Basie Orchestra, Scotty gives seminars in Jazz history and improvisation at schools and universities all over the world. As a part of these clinics, he demonstrates how the style of Jazz trumpet progressed from Louis Armstrong to Dizzy Gillespie to Miles Davis and others up through Wynton Marsalis by actually playing their solos “verbatim.” This rare ability led to his being selected to perform trumpet solos in the style of Louis Armstrong in a documentary filmed at Universal Studios in Florida.

With his own quintet, Scotty has played to rave reviews at the Atlanta Jazz Festival, Charlotte Jazz Festival, Galveston Island Jazz Festival, and at Birdland in New York City. He was also featured with Ellis Marsalis and Marcus Roberts in a unique setting of two grand pianos and trumpet at the Denver Jazz Festival. Additionally, he has performed with Quincy Jones, Herbie Hancock, Aretha Franklin, Hank Jones, Take 6, Jamie Cullum, Shirley Caesar, George Benson, Lalo Schifrin, Lou Rawls, Nancy Wilson, The Mills Brothers, The Clayton/Hamilton Orchestra, trumpet masters Clark Terry, Red Rodney, Freddie Hubbard, Jon Faddis, Nat Adderley, Harry “Sweets” Edison, Warren Vache, Snooky Young, and Wynton Marsalis, and played lead trumpet for top stars such as Johnny Mathis, Barry Manilow, Andy Williams, Diana Krall, Natalie Cole, Diane Schuur, and The Temptations. As a composer, Scotty’s original composition and arrangement, “Little Wishes,” was recorded by vocalist/lyricist Melissa Walker on her Enja debut CD, May I Feel.

Scotty is in his seventeenth year as a featured soloist, composer, and arranger with The Count Basie Orchestra. He was the only musician featured on two Grammy-nominated Jazz recordings in the same category in 1997, Portraits in Blue with pianist Marcus Roberts and The Count Basie Orchestra with The New York Voices, with the latter taking the honors. The Count Basie Orchestra’s Count Plays Duke, which also features solos by Scotty, also won the Grammy Award in 1999.

Continuing a schedule of worldwide travel with the Count Basie Orchestra, and shuttling from Los Angeles to Tallahassee as a Professor at Florida State University, and being in demand for lectures and as a guest soloist, Scotty Barnhart is one of the most important musicians working today. With the release of his upcoming debut recording with an all-star group of musicians, and his book The World of Jazz Trumpet on shelves worldwide, the future of jazz music and jazz education is in good hands.

Tags: Jazz, Marcus Roberts, Music, nyc, Scotty Barnhart, wynton marsalis

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