Jazz trumpeter picks King Center for CD release party, show

To get a sense of what jazz trumpeter and Atlanta native Scotty Barnhart can do with his material, check out his debut CD, "Say It Plain," which he will celebrate Friday night with a release party and concert at the King Center.

The first cut is "Giant Steps," John Coltrane's ferocious barn burner — in Mardi Gras clothes. Starting out as a goofy New Orleans street parade, with Leon Anderson on second-line rhythm and drum major's whistle, the song strolls through the thick-and-fast changes in a relaxed jaunt, ending with a blithe "What, Me Worry?" coda.

His style is, in other words, the diametric opposite of Coltrane's fire-breathing intensity. Barnhart says he heard 150 versions of the song on iTunes, and every one was the same, "guys trying to play fast, and play the changes."

Barnhart makes it fresh.

That's the imperative of the jazz musician, the artist who transforms and sustains tradition. Barnhart writes about that sort of artistry in his comprehensive study "The World of Jazz Trumpet" and teaches the same philosophy at Florida State University when he's not touring with the Count Basie Orchestra.

A 1982 graduate of Gordon High School in DeKalb County, Barnhart went on to study music at Florida A&M University with the help of an Alberta Williams King scholarship, a fund named for the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s mother. The scholarship fund supports several music students each year, helping to pay tuition or other costs. Barnhart said he wanted to hold his CD release concert at the King Center as a way to pay back that kindness.