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A swing thing: Count Basie’s band coming to St. Pete
As musical director of the Count Basie Orchestra, trumpet player Scotty Barnhart is tasked with upholding the high musical standards of one of the 20th century’s finest swing bands. To hear Barnhart tell it, a big part of what makes the Basie orchestra special is the aura of Bill “Count” Basie himself. He was the gold standard.
Count Basie
“Mr. Basie was a happy human being, and it translated straight to his musicians and to the music,” says Barnhart, who’s also a Professor of Music at Florida State University. “He was blessed with a disposition that attracted people, simple as that.
“He was the perfect person to lead an orchestra, to be a leader. Musically, he was blessed with a natural talent that just got better and better. He knew what he wanted, he never compromised.”
Barnhart and the 19-piece band – that’s 18 musicians and a vocalist – will play Monday, Feb. 24 at the St. Petersburg College Gibbs Campus’ Music Center. The event is sponsored by the Warehouse Arts District Association.
The Basie Orchestra performed many times in the bay area over the decades, famously drawing an estimated 1,000 fans to the tiny Manhattan Casino ballroom in 1962.
The group’s last local appearance with Basie himself at the piano came on March 7, 1983 at the Showboat Dinner Theatre, on Ulmerton Road, a year before Basie’s death at age 79.
Scotty Barnhart
Like so many big bands and jazz ensembles whose visionary leaders have passed on, the Count Basie Orchestra continued, with his instantly-recognizable compositions and arrangements (“One O’Clock Jump,” “Jumpin’ at the Woodside,” “Lester Leaps In,” “Sunday at the Savoy,” “Everyday I Have the Blues,” “April in Paris”). Trumpeter Thad Jones was the revitalized group’s first leader.
Scotty Barnhart joined the band in 1993, and became its musical director in 2013.
Big shoes to fill? You better believe it.
“Musically, Basie let the orchestra itself become the star. He didn’t particularly try to take all of the solo space, or feature himself all the time. He made sure that each individual in the orchestra felt needed and respected as a musician and a human being. That’s why he got what he got from them.
“That’s why we’re still here. My job is to keep that same thing going.”
Reggie Thomas is the orchestra’s current pianist. “We can’t ask the pianist who’s in that chair to play ‘like Basie,’ nobody really can do that,” Barnhart believes. “But there are songs where we need that Basie introduction or ending, and every once in a while a few Basie things here and there. They get to be themselves, but they also have to remind themselves where they are. They’re sitting in Mr. Basie’s chair.”
A studio and touring musician whose resume includes work with Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Diana Krall, Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles and the Duke Ellington Orchestra, Barnhart literally wrote the book on his instrument. The World of Jazz Trumpet: A Comprehensive History & Practical Philosophy was published in 2005.
“What I learned is, you just have to be thorough when it comes to being a musician,” he says. “I was just trying to get better as a jazz trumpet player, man, I didn’t set out to write a book.”
The first edition included extensive interviews with 15 jazz trumpeters.
“I was on the road with pianist Marcus Roberts back in 1990, 91, at Georgia State University in Atlanta,” Barnhart explains. “Earlier in the day, they asked each of us in the quintet to give a master class. And in giving a master class on jazz trumpet, you have to go through the lineage of that instrument, from the earliest to the latest.
“So when I was talking about Louis Armstrong, I would play one of his solos that I had learned. Then I would talk about Dizzy Gillespie, and I’d play one of his solos. Dizzy, Freddie Hubbard, Wynton Marsalis, the ones that I happened to know personally. I interjected a personal story about them. How I met Freddie or whatever.
“At the Q&A at the end, a student said ‘All of this information is great – but is it written down anywhere?’” It took a few years, but Scotty Barnhart got it done.
A new edition of the book ups the number of intense conversations to 25, everyone from Doc Severinsen to Arturo Sandoval.
“I personally interviewed every one of those guys. I’m one of them. We’re all in the same boat.”
The Feb. 24 concert takes place at 7:30 p.m. at the St. Petersburg College Gibbs Campus Music Center, 6605 5th Avenue N. Purchase tickets at this link.
Other events (Feb. 24, SPC Music Center):
2 p.m.: Free Community Workshop. Aspiring musicians and music enthusiasts are invited to participate in a hands-on workshop with the Count Basie Orchestra. Sponsored by EMIT.
6 p.m.: Free Panel Discussion: “Count Basie’s Soundtrack to the Civil Rights Movement.” Panelists will discuss the Orchestra’s role in the Chitlin’ Circuit, performances across the Deep South, and the broader cultural significance of Basie’s music during a pivotal time in history. With local historian Gwendolyn Reese, Chief Equity Officer Carl Lavender Jr., musician Scotty Barnhart and others.
