The Count Basie Orchestra Directed by Scotty Barnhart

Biography

In the history of Jazz music, there is only one bandleader that has the distinction of having his orchestra still performing sold out concerts all over the world, with members personally chosen by him, for nearly 40 years after his passing. Pianist and bandleader William James “Count” Basie was and still is an American institution that personifies the grandeur and excellence of Jazz. The Count Basie Orchestra, today directed by Scotty Barnhart, has won every respected jazz poll in the world at least once, won 18 Grammy Awards, performed for Kings, Queens, and other world Royalty, appeared in several movies, television shows, at every major jazz festival and major concert hall in the world. The most recent honor is a 2023 Grammy Win of Best Large Jazz Ensemble for “Basie Swings the Blues”! Other honors include their 2022 Grammy Nomination for Live At Birdland, a 2018 Grammy Nomination for All About That Basie, which features special guests Stevie Wonder, Jon Faddis, and Take 6 among others, and the 2018 Downbeat Readers Poll Award as the #1 Jazz Orchestra in the world. Their critically acclaimed release in 2015 of A Very Swingin’ Basie Christmas! is the very first holiday album in the 80-year history of the orchestra. Released on Concord Music, it went to #1 on the Jazz charts and sold out on Amazon! Special guests include vocalists Johnny Mathis, Ledisi, our own Carmen Bradford and pianist Ellis Marsalis. A BBC TV produced documentary on Mr. Basie and the orchestra entitled Count Basie: Through His Own Eyes premiered on PBS in the US and UK in 2019 coinciding with the orchestra’s 85^th Anniversary. It features interviews by Quincy Jones, Scotty Barnhart, Dee Askew, John Williams, and several other important members and associates of Mr. Basie and the orchestra.

Some of the greatest soloists, composers, arrangers, and vocalists in jazz history such as Lester Young, Billie Holiday, Frank Foster, Thad Jones, Sonny Payne, Freddie Green, Snooky Young, Frank Wess, and Joe Williams, became international stars once they began working with the legendary Count Basie Orchestra. This great 18-member orchestra is still continuing the excellent history started by Basie of stomping and shouting the blues, as well as refining those musical particulars that allow for the deepest and most moving of swing.

William “Count” Basie was born in Red Bank, New Jersey in 1904. He began his early playing days by working as a silent movie pianist and organist and by eventually working with the Theater Owners Booking Agency (TOBA) circuit. In 1927, Basie, then touring with Gonzelle White and the Big Jazz Jamboree, found himself stranded in Kansas City, Missouri. It was here that he would begin to explore his deep love of the Blues and meet his future band mates including bassist Walter Page.

Walter Page’s Blue Devils and Benny Moten’s Kansas City Orchestra caught Basie’s ear and soon he was playing with both and serving as second pianist and arranger for Mr. Moten. In 1935, Bennie Moten died, and it was left to Basie to take some of the musicians from that orchestra and form his own, The Count Basie Orchestra, which is still alive and well today some 86 years later. His orchestra epitomized Kansas City Swing and along with the bands of Fletcher Henderson, Jimmy Lunceford, Duke Ellington and Benny Goodman, Basie’s orchestra would define the big band era.

While the media of the period crowned Benny Goodman the “King of Swing”, the real King of Swing was undoubtedly Count Basie. As the great Basie trumpeter Sweets Edison once said, “we used to tear all of the other bands up when it came to swing”. The Basie orchestra evolved into one of the most venerable and viable enterprises in American music with the highest levels of continued productivity rivaling any musical organization in history.

With the April In Paris recording in 1955, the orchestra began to set standards of musical achievement that have been emulated by every jazz orchestra since that time. One of the things that set Mr. Basie’s orchestra apart from all others and is one of the secrets to its longevity, is the fact the Basie allowed and actually encouraged his musicians to compose and arrange especially for the orchestra and its distinctive soloists such as Snooky Young, Thad Jones, Frank Foster, and Frank Wess on flute, who recorded the very first jazz flute solo in history. The orchestra also began to become the first choice for the top jazz vocalists of the day including Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Tony Bennett, and of course, Basie’s “Number One Son”, the great Joe Williams.

During the 1960s and throughout the 1970s and into the 80s, the orchestra’s sound, swing feel, general articulation and style began to become more laid back and even more relaxed. As 30-year veteran trumpeter Sonny Cohn once stated, “this is a laid…back…orchestra….a…laid…back…orchestra”. With very few personnel changes, the orchestra members were able to blend into one sound and one way of phrasing that is now known as the “Basie way”.

Since Basie’s passing in 1984, Thad Jones, Frank Foster, Grover Mitchell, Bill Hughes, Dennis Mackrel, and since September 2013, Scotty Barnhart, have led the Count Basie Orchestra and maintained it as one of the elite performing organizations in Jazz.

Current members include one musician hired by Basie himself: Trombonist Clarence Banks (1984). Long-time members include Doug Miller (1989, formerly w/Lionel Hampton), guitarist Will Matthews from Kansas City (1996), and members who have 15-25 years of service; trombonist Mark Williams, trumpeters Shawn Edmonds and Endre Rice, saxophonists Doug Lawrence (formerly w/Benny Goodman) and returning on lead alto, David Glasser. Newer members include bassist Trevor Ware, lead trumpeter Frank Greene III and trumpeter Brandon Lee, pianist Reginald Thomas, lead trombonist Isrea Butler, bass trombonist Ronald Wilkins, alto sax and flute Stantawn Kendrick and the youngest members, drummer Robert Boone and baritone saxophonist Josh Lee.

Scotty Barnhart

Musical Director

SCOTTY BARNHART is an internationally acclaimed Jazz trumpeter, composer, arranger, educator, author, producer, three-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 release, Basie Swings The Blues, also produced by Barnhart, features blues legends Buddy Guy, Bobby Rush, Keb’ Mo’, and George Benson, won a Grammy Award for Best Large Jazz Ensemble in 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.

Jazz Vocalist

Carmen Bradford is jazz royalty, a four-time Grammy Award nominee (most recently in 2022, for Live At Birdland – The Count Basie Orchestra with Carmen Bradford) and the recipient of the Los Angeles Jazz Society’s Jazz Vocalist Award. With her body of work, which reflects her vast experience, versatility, and technical brilliance, she has carved out her place in jazz history, and she continues to contribute to the preservation of this uniquely American art form.

Bradford was born in Austin, Texas and raised in Altadena, California. The daughter of legendary cornetist and composer Bobby Bradford and world-renown jazz vocalist, composer, and author Melba Joyce, and granddaughter of Melvin Moore (who sang with Lucky Millender and his Big Band, Dizzy Gillespie’s Big Band, and the Ink Spots), Bradford grew up with music in her home and in her heart.

She was discovered and hired by William “Count” Basie when she was just 22; she went on to be the featured vocalist with the legendary Count Basie Orchestra for nine years and has continued to perform with them regularly throughout her career. All four of her Grammy Award nominations are for albums with the Count Basie Orchestra, including two in the 1980s and a third, “Big Boss Band,” with guitarist George Benson. (She and Benson performed the classic duet, “How Do You Keep the Music Playing,” on the Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.) The fourth is 2022’s “Live At Birdland.”

In 1992, Bradford released her first debut album, “Finally Yours” (Evidence Records), to critical acclaim. In 1995, the release of her second solo album, “With Respect” (Evidence Records), established Bradford as one of jazz music’s most diverse and exciting vocal stylists.

Bradford has performed and/or recorded with Patti Austin, Tony Bennett, George Benson, Shelly Berg, James Brown, Benny Carter, Dori Caymmi, John Clayton and the Clayton-Hamilton Orchestra, Freddie Cole, Lena Horne, Kurt Elling, Wynton Marsalis, Jeremy Monteiro, David Murray, Willie Nelson, James Newton, Kenny Rankin, Lou Rawls, Doc Severinsen, Frank Sinatra, Byron Stripling, Tierney Sutton, Jeff Tyzik, Joe Williams, Nancy Wilson, Liz Wright, and countless other artists around the world.

She also has performed and/or recorded with the Dallas Symphony, the Dani Felber Big Band, the Detroit Symphony, the DIVA Jazz Orchestra, the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, the National Symphony, the Philadelphia Pops, the Rochester Philharmonic, the Vancouver Philharmonic, and many other organizations.

Bradford teamed with singer/composer Kenny Rankin for the Benny Carter Songbook Project, performing with him the duet, “And All That Jazz.” Other notable artists on the album include Ruth Brown, Jon Hendricks, Shirley Horn, Diana Krall, Peggy Lee, Diane Reeves, Bobby Short, Joe Williams, and others. At the request of Benny Carter, Bradford also sang “Key Largo” on this Grammy Award-winning album.

Bradford’s 2004 release, “Home With You” (Azica Records), is a warm and beautiful collection of vocal and piano duets with jazz great Shelly Berg. In 2008, with the release of “Live from Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola: Sherrie Maricle & The DIVA Jazz Orchestra featuring Carmen Bradford,” Bradford returned to her big band roots. That recording ultimately brought her back to her first big band family, as well: She continues to tour with the Count Basie Orchestra, always grateful to Count Basie for opening the door for her. “When the Count Basie Orchestra calls me,” she says, “I go.”

The 2015 release of “Invisible Design,” with jazz great John Mills, showcases Bradford’s versatility. 2015 also saw the release of “A Very Swingin’ Basie Christmas” with the Count Basie Orchestra (conducted by Scotty Barnhart). The album features Bradford, Ledisi, Ellis Marsalis, and Johnny Mathis.

In 2016, Bradford’s was the voice on the album “Imagination Nation,” a tribute to Nelson Mandela by South African trumpeter Darren English. This critically-acclaimed album won the Pledge for Peace award from the Global Peace Song Awards, and was named Best in Jazz.

The 2019 Grammy Award-nominated album, “All About That Basie” with the Count Basie Orchestra, conducted by Scotty Barnhart on Concord Records, features Bradford, Jamie Davis, Joey DeFrancesco, Kurt Elling, Jon Faddis, Wycliff Gordon, Stevie Wonder, and Take 6. In 2021, another Grammy Award-nominated album was released: “Live At Birdland – the Count Basie Orchestra,” conducted by Scotty Barnhart and featuring Bradford and Jamie Davis.

Bradford regularly pays tribute to the great Ella Fitzgerald with her show, “A Century of Ella,” created and conducted by jazz great Jeff Tyzik. And, with the incredible trumpeter and vocalist Byron Stripling, Bradford honors Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong in their show, “Ella and Louis,” which consistently performs to rave reviews. Bradford has recently added a new show, “Carmen Pays Tribute to the ‘First Ladies of Song.’”

Bradford has loaned her inimitable voice to stage productions and the music of Hollywood films, cartoons for television and radio commercials, and the theater. She sang on the haunting soundtrack for Oprah Winfrey’s “Beloved” and starred in the title role of Duke Ellington’s Folk Opera, “Queenie Pie,” at the University of Texas at Austin’s Butler School of Music.

As she tours and performs around the world, Bradford continues to sing multiple genres, from straight-ahead jazz to fusion to blues – and to sing as no one else can.

In 2017, Bradford’s gift for teaching and mentoring others inspired the San Francisco Conservatory of Music to recruit Bradford to serve as Vocalist in Residence, and Director of the Jazz Voice Department in the school’s new Roots, Jazz, and American Music (RJAM) Program.

Bradford also is CEO and Artistic Director of Carmen Bradford Productions, Inc. and an artist with Earthworks Audio. She serves as a panelist for AMPLIFY, part of the Emerging Black Composers Project (a partnership among the San Francisco Conservatory of Music (SFCM), the San Francisco Symphony, and the SFCM President’s Advisory Council on Equity and Inclusion.) She is a Governor of the Atlanta Chapter of the Recording Academy.

Bradford sings on the critically acclaimed 2023 release, “Basie Swings the Blues” on Candid Records. In addition to Bradford, this album features some of the greatest blues artists alive today, including George Benson, Castro “Mr. Sipp” Coleman, Shemekia Copeland, Robert Cray, Jamie Davie, Buddy Guy, Charlton Johnson, Betty LaVette, Ledisi, Keb’ Mo’, Charlie Musselwhite and Bobby Rush.

Bradford’s body of work reflects jazz’s improvisation, creativity, and freedom. She looks forward to continuing her work to preserve this uniquely American art, so reflective of the cultural fabric of our country.

The Legendary Count Basie Orchestra

CBO Band Roster European Tour 2024
CBO Band Roster Japan December 2024