Scotty Barnhart 

SCOTTY BARNHART is an internationally acclaimed Jazz trumpeter, composer, arranger, educator, author, producer, two-time Grammy Winner, and Director of The Count Basie Orchestra. Prior to being selected Director in 2013, he was its featured trumpet soloist for 20 years, and in 2015 was Executive Producer of A Very Swingin’ Basie Christmas!, the very first Christmas recording for The Count Basie Orchestra. It went to #1 on the charts. Under his leadership, the orchestra won the Downbeat Magazine Readers Poll as the #1 Jazz Orchestra in the world for 2018, and their 2018 recording, All About That Basie, featuring special guest Stevie Wonder, was nominated for a Grammy for Best Large Jazz Ensemble. The orchestra’s 2021 recording, Live At Birdland, also produced by Barnhart, immediately became a #1 Best Seller on Amazon, and was nominated for a 2022 Grammy Award. It’s 2023 recording, Basie Swings The Blues, also produced by Barnhart, features blues legends Buddy Guy, Bobby Rush, Keb’ Mo’, George Benson, Robert Cray, and others is set for release in September 2023.

Scotty appears on three critically acclaimed recordings with pianist Marcus Roberts and over twenty others with artists as diverse as Tony Bennett, Diana Krall, and Ray Charles. He has performed with Frank Sinatra, Wynton Marsalis, Herbie Hancock, Quincy Jones, The Duke Ellington Orchestra, Nat Adderley, Aretha Franklin, George Clinton, Buddy Guy, Barbara Streisand, George Benson, and many others, been featured in the Asian Wall Street Journal, performed at The Academy Awards, and is in demand as a soloist and lecturer on jazz history all over the world. In 2009, Unity Music released his solo CD, Say It Plain. It reached #3 on the Jazz Charts.

Scotty is co-founder and Artistic Director of The Florida Jazz and Blues Festival, and Professor of Jazz Trumpet with tenure at Florida State University, where two of his former students won 1st place in the National Jazz Trumpet Competition. His groundbreaking book, The World of Jazz Trumpet – a Comprehensive History and Practical Philosophy, was published in December 2005 to rave reviews. The updated edition contains over 55 interviews with many of the most important Jazz trumpeters of the last 100 years and is due for completion in 2023. He is a graduate of Florida A&M University with a degree in Music Education, and in 2017 he was honored as a distinguished alumnus with a permanent plaque and photo being placed within the Gallery of Distinction in the FAMU Department of Music. Barnhart has appeared as guest conductor and lecturer at such prestigious institutions at The Juilliard School of Music and others and is profiled in the book Trumpet Kings, which places him among the greatest jazz trumpeters in history. He was awarded The 2021 National Performance and Outstanding Leadership Award from The Newspaper Publishers Association of America, and The 2022 Distinguished Alumni Award from Florida A&M University. He resides in Tallahassee, Florida.