Trumpeter celebrates debut at King Center

Between jazz fest and Saturday's Mulgrew Miller concert at Variety Playhouse, this weekend is packed full of national jazz acts, but there's also a lot happening next weekend too. On Friday the 29th, trumpeter Scotty Barnhart is celebrating the release of his first album as a leader, Say it Plain, with a concert at the King Center (directions). Barnhart, who currently teaches trumpet at Florida State University, plays lead trumpet with the Count Basie Orchestra. We recently chatted about growing up going to Ebenezer Baptist Church, seeing Count Basie perform in downtown Atlanta and why it took him so long to record a debut album.

Why the trumpet?

Scotty Barnhart: It’s a really simple story. I went to school in Decatur in the '70s. When you got to fifth grade, the school system allowed you to get into a band, and you just chose an instrument. I think I had seen some of the students older than me walking around with violins. I just said, well, the violin would be cool, so I asked my parents for that.

My mother went to the store in Decatur to get the violin — the shop is still there — but when she came home, I opened the case and there was a trumpet inside of it. That’s how it happened. It was simply a matter of the line at the string store being too long. She was standing in line with all these other parents, and the line was too long, so she just went next door to get a trumpet and came home with that. I opened the case expecting to see a piece of wood, and it was a silver, brand new trumpet.

I guess it was just meant to be, and I’ve been playing for 35 years now. The trumpet has always been easy for me to play, and I guess that’s why I’m doing what I’m doing.

Tell me a little about living in Decatur in the '70s.

SB: When we grew up, we didn’t have all that stuff they have with guns and drugs and all of that mess. I’m sure that stuff was probably around somewhere, but what I remember about Decatur in the '70s is that it was carefree and happy. Everything was bright and sunny to me. We just had a great time; it was really nice. Everybody cared about one another, and it was really fun.

Where’d you hear music?

SB: My mother is a soprano, so I basically was exposed at church, growing up at Ebenezer. Every Sunday, I would hear the choir at church — my mom was in the choir. At school, they had the band. My brother was in the marching band at Gordon High, where I eventually went. I went to some of their games. That’s sort of how it happened, in terms of the music. And my family always had records playing, not necessarily jazz, but there was always music in the house.

Was there jazz around then?

SB: My mom's uncle had an extensive jazz collection that I inherited when he passed away, but I didn’t get into jazz seriously until my senior year in high school. When I got to college is when I really started to study it and try to find out what it was all about. Growing up I heard it a little here and there.

I saw Basie when I was about 12, and that was pretty much what did it. I heard a Freddie Hubbard record at about that same time.

Basie down here?

SB: He played at Druid Hills High School in '79 or '80, and he also played a couple of years after that at the Fox Theatre. For the one at Druid Hills High School, I was sitting in the front row, and that’s all I remember. After the concert at the Fox, I met the whole band. I met everybody but Basie. From that time on — that was the summer of 82 — I knew I was going to be in the band one of these days, but I didn’t know how. I just had that feeling.

Why wait until now to put out your first CD?

SB: I put the solo thing on hold because I was on the road with Basie 40 weeks a year begining in 1993. There was no time to do anything else. I knew eventually I would get a chance to record, but I wanted to do it right. I knew the music that I had was worthy of presenting right. Eventually, this opportunity came along, and I got the musicians that I wanted. Most of the music was written 15, 16 years ago, so it was just a matter of waiting for the right opportunity to come along.

Most of the players on your CD have some connection to Wynton Marsalis.

SB: I’ve known Wynton since 1982. He and I have been friends for a long time. I even knew him before I knew Marcus Roberts. The funny thing about me and Marcus is that we were both living here in Tallahasse at the same time and we didn’t know each other until right before he left Wynton’s band. Wynton had always told him about this trumpet player in Florida, but he didn’t say where in Florida.

When it got time to record, Marcus was somebody I knew I was gonna call, Todd Williams was another one, because I had been playing with those guys for years. We liked playing with each other, so it was just a natural thing to do. For example, on "Giant Steps," Marcus is one of the only people in the world that can do that stride piano thing the way he did it on "Giant Steps." It was more than just the names. These guys have a particular style that they play, and it just fits with what I like to do. Basically, they can play anything.

Why the King Center?

SB: I couldn’t think of a better place. King loved jazz. In my book that I put out, there’s a quote that I use from him about jazz that he gave at the 1964 Berlin Jazz Festival. He equated it to how it helped the civil rights movement along, how it fueled them, basically. They were listening to Aretha Franklin and a whole bunch of other stuff too, but they were listening to jazz. He loved jazz, so for me it was a natural thing. I didn’t want to have it at some club; I just thought it would be better to have it there, so that’s what we decided to do.