While the New Orleans music scene looses a good chunk of its audiences when college students head home for the summer, we gain in having some of our own back in the fold.

Trumpeter Christian Scott, who’s caught the ears of jazz fans the last several years, returns to his hometown for the school break following a year of study at Boston’s Berklee College of Music.

“It’s cool to be around guys who have a genuine thirst for knowledge in terms of music,” says Scott of his experience. “When I first got to Boston, I found that things were really, really technical, which wasn’t really a problem because my uncle [saxophonist Donald Harrison, Jr.] taught me a lot of that stuff when I was younger. But things in Boston were more, well I guess, brain-oriented.”

Already an accomplished musician, Scott, 18, has only been playing a relatively short time, picking up the horn at age 12. Music has always been a part of his life. His greatest influence has, of course, been his uncle who nurtured his musical talent and offered direction. His mother, Cara Scott, who studied classical piano, taught her son to read music while his grandfather, the late Big Chief Donald Harrison, Sr. of the Guardians of the Flame cultivated his appreciation of jazz.

“He would always play Miles Davis and Clifford Brown in the house,” remembers Scott. “He would sing melodies to me and ask me to play them back. That’s how I got my ear together initially.”

Scott’s decision to play trumpet stems from his reverence for his uncle and his desire to be around him and learn from him. Rather than choosing to emulate Harrison by playing saxophone, Scott figured he’d stand a better chance of working with his uncle by choosing a complementary instrument.

“I remember one day I was riding in my grandmother’s van and I heard [Harrison’s album] Indian Blues,” recalls Scott. “I asked my grandmother where was the trumpet player, where was Terence Blanchard. I didn’t know that Terence and Donald [long-time musical partners] had broken up at that time. Ever since I was a little boy I’ve always been obsessed with my uncle. I always loved music and genuinely wanted to play, but initially I picked up the trumpet because he [Harrison] didn’t have a trumpeter in his band. Once I got it, I liked it—it was the perfect fit.”

Most of Scott’s early appearance on the local jazz scene was sitting in with Harrison. The saxophonist offered his nephew his first recording experience when he introduced Scott on his 2000 album Paradise Found. Besides playing some tasty horn, the trumpeter also contributed an original number, the aptly titled “Young Blood.”

Scott’s admiration for Harrison and the bloodlines they share are in evidence when the two take a stage. Not only do the resemble one another and enjoy a noticeably amicable musical and emotional relationship, Scott has also picked up on his uncle’s impeccable and hip fashion sense.

“He taught me to observe everything that goes on around me. I guess, subconsciously, it’s ended up manifested itself in the way I dress, the way I walk, the way I talk.”

Scott was digging into the music as a student at the New Orleans Center for the Creative Arts (NOCCA) and soon began leading his own bands. He received a full scholarship to attend Berklee and fulfilled the requirements for his freshmen year by passing tests rather taking courses. He will return to the school as a junior.

“NOCCA was a really fun place to be,” says Scott, “and in some ways I really miss it. I guess I miss high school because I didn’t have as many responsibilities.”

Besides studying, Scott has been busy in Boston putting together and gigging weekly with a band. It’s the group that will perform on his debut album to be released next spring. Making use of his business classes, the trumpeter plans to put the CD out on his own label. It will boast all original material from Scott’s prolific pen.

“I really love to write,” exclaims Scott. “I think when I went to Boston for my first semester I must have written about 200 songs. I would try to write like everyday. It’s does something to me—it’s really uplifting.”

Scott plans to offer some of this material, which he describes groove-oriented and very modern, at his gig at Snug Harbor on July 11. For the date, he’ll reunite with local partners drummer James Alsanders, bassist Edwin Livingston, tenor saxophonist Devon Phillips and keyboardist Brian Coogan. Look for Scott’s name to pop up on other musical schedules this summer.

OLD SCHOOL DAYS

With umbrellas and lawn chairs surrounding the Popp Bandstand, it appears as if nothing changed since last summer at the popular Sunday afternoon concert series in City Park. New Orleans musicians continue to provide laid-back grooves and hot rhythms from 4 p.m. until 7 p.m. However, last fall when Wilks Broadcasting bought smooth jazz radio station WSJZ-94.9, which had initiated and hosted the series, the fate of the concerts appeared iffy at best. The format of the station was, after all, changed to “extreme rock.”

When Wilks purchased WSJZ, however, it also purchased Old School KMEZ-102.9 and kept its format intact. Aware of the success of last year’s City Park shows, program director Lebron Joseph decided that the KMEZ should take over the presentation of the free performances. He turned to account executive Cheryl Charles, a former WSJZ employee who coordinated last year’s series, to spearhead the project.

I’m ecstatic that they’re continuing it,” says Charles. “So many people were asking about the concerts. They kept saying, ‘Please do it again.’”

KMEZ decided to not only put on the series but also expand its length to include the entire summer. This year the performances, which usually include an opening gospel group, then a jazz combo and closing with a brass band, run through September 1. On July 7, the impressive Franklin Avenue Baptist Church Choir kicks off the festivities followed by the ever-delicious Kermit Ruffins and the Barbecue Swingers plus the ReBirth Brass Band. While scheduling for the month isn’t complete other artists include the Greater Evergreen Missionary Baptist Church Choir plus vocalist Henri Smith  and Trombone Shorty’s Brass Band (June 14), smooth jazz keyboardist Derek Dabbs (June 21) and a pair of rhythm and blues bands, Forever 1 and Savoy (June 28).

MUSIQUE NOIR

Each year, the New Orleans’ French consulate brightens up Bastille Day by bringing in the hottest international artists to play at House of Blues. Performing on July 14 is Les Yeux Noirs (The Black Eyes), an innovative seven-piece klezmer ensemble from France. Similar in approach to artists like our own Dirty Dozen Brass Band or Buckwheat Zydeco, Les Yeux Noirs uses traditional music as its base and liberates it with original embellishments and instrumentation. As heard on its 2000 CD Balamouk, the results of the blend is passionate music that celebrates the music’s rich history while driven by modern improvisation and influences.