Atlanta native Scotty Barnhart has earned recognition as a skilled jazz trumpeter, teacher, and clinician through his extended tenure with the Count Basie Orchestra. Following his graduation from Florida A&M University in music education, he began performing alongside pianist Marcus Roberts and contributed to three of the pianist’s studio recordings. Additional stage and session work soon connected him with Tony Bennett, Diana Krall, Ray Charles, Frank Sinatra, Quincy Jones, Ray Brown, Take 6, Max Roach, Aretha Franklin, Natalie Cole, Jon Hendricks, Barbra Streisand, and numerous other prominent artists. In 1993 Barnhart entered the legacy Count Basie Orchestra as trumpeter and featured soloist; five years later he assumed its directorship. Between tours he serves as Professor of Jazz Trumpet at Florida State University. His first album under his own name, Say It Plain, appeared in 2009 and included guest contributions from Clark Terry and Wynton Marsalis. Two years afterward he joined the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra for the recording Sundays in New York, and in 2015 he accompanied British vocalist Rebecca Ferguson on the Billie Holiday tribute Lady Sings the Blues.
