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All Music Guide:
Trombone Shorty is the best-known moniker for Troy Andrews. He was born into a well-known New Orleans musical family in 1986. His grandfather, Jessie Hill, was a locally popular R&B recording artist. His older brother, James "12" Andrews, was a successful jazz trumpeter who was also an early mentor. Andrews began playing music at a very early age and was playing professionally at the age of five. He mastered trombone, trumpet, and drums, eventually choosing the trombone as his principal instrument and thus picking up his nickname. So advanced was he that, at the age of eight, a club in the citys Tremé district, where he was born and raised, was named Trombone Shorts in his honor.
Andrews became a member of the New Orleans Center for the Creative Arts' (NOCCA) musical education program for high school students; other graduates included Harry Connick, Jr., Nicholas Payton, and Wynton and Branford Marsalis. At NOCCA, Andrews took music theory, ear training, and instrumental instruction courses under Clyde Kerr, Jr. and Kent Jordan, among others. In 2003 he was one of five young musicians chosen as the subject for a PBS television documentary, and also performed on the network's nationally broadcast tribute to Louis Armstrong, directed by Wynton Marsalis. Outside his home town, Andrews has appeared with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, and has performed with U2 and Green Day. He has also traveled extensively overseas, playing concerts and festivals in Cuba and Europe; he has appeared at the Vienna Jazz Festival, the North Sea Jazz Festival, and the Istanbul Jazz Festival.
As a recording artist, Andrews has appeared on Global Song of Kids, a collection of childrens songs played in the style of New Orleans marching bands released in Japan. His first recording under his own name, Swingin Gate, was issued in 2002 and featured several of his own compositions; it was acclaimed by jazz critics. This was followed in 2004 by The Same Pocket, Vol. 1 (by the BlueBrass Project) and 12 & Shorty (with his brother James' band). In 2005, Treme Records released The End of the Beginning (by the Troy Andrews Quintet) and Orleans & Claiborne (by Troy "Trombone Shorty" Andrews & Orleans Avenue), and four volumes of his performances at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival entitled Live at Jazz Fest 2004, 2006, 2007, and 2008. He also appeared on the club hit "Tufflove" on Galactic's Ya-Ka-May in 2010 before releasing his Verve Records debut, Backatown (on which he not only plays trombone but also sings and plays trumpet, keyboards, drums, and other percussion), under the Trombone Shorty moniker.
Backatown was greeted by nearly universal critical and commercial acclaim -- it hit the Billboard jazz chart at number one and remained there for nine straight weeks, and was in the Top Ten for over six months; the album was nominated for a Grammy Award in the Best Contemporary Jazz Album category. Andrews and his band toured worldwide to support it, knocking out sold-out crowds all over the globe with their high-energy meld of styles, opening for Jeff Beck and Dave Matthews, as well as playing the Bonnaroo and Bumbershoot festival stages along the way. Andrews also appeared, as himself, in several episodes of the HBO television series Tréme. Taking no time off, Shorty and Orleans Avenue recorded For True during brief breaks from the road. For True was released on September 13, 2011. It was produced by Ben Ellman and George Drakoulias, and featured a host of guest appearances from Jeff Beck, Ledisi, Lenny Kravitz, Kid Rock, Warren Haynes, Ivan and Cyril Neville, and the Rebirth Brass Band, among others.
Wikipedia:
Troy Andrews (born January 2, 1986), also known by the stage name Trombone Shorty, is a trombone and trumpet player from New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. He has worked in jazz, funk and rap music. Andrews is the younger brother of trumpeter and bandleader James Andrews as well as the grandson of singer and songwriter Jessie Hill. Andrews began playing trombone at age six, and since 2009 has toured with his own band, Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue.Cite error: There are <ref> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist}} template (see the help page).
Life and career[edit]
Andrews was born in New Orleans. He grew up in its Tremé neighborhood, and participated in brass band parades as a child, becoming a bandleader by the age of six.
In his teens, Andrews was a member of the Stooges Brass Band, recording and playing with the band. He attended the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts (NOCCA).
In 2005, Andrews was a featured member of Lenny Kravitz's horn section in a world tour that shared billing with acts including Aerosmith.
Six weeks after the levees failed in New Orleans on August 29, 2005, some of the city's greatest musicians came to Austin, Texas, to record a benefit CD called Sing Me Back Home at Wire Studios with producers Leo Sacks and Ray Bardani. With their lives in transition, the collective became known as The New Orleans Social Club. Andrews was the featured guest on "Hey Troy, Your Mama's Calling You," a tribute to "Hey Leroy, Your Mama's Calling You" which was a Latin-jazz-soul hit for the Jimmy Castor Bunch on Smash Records in 1966. Andrews also performed on "Where Y'At" as part of The Sixth Ward All-Star Brass Band Revue featuring Charles Neville of The Neville Brothers.
In London, during the summer of 2006, Andrews began working with producer Bob Ezrin and U2 at Abbey Road Studios. This association led to Andrews performing with U2 and Green Day during the re-opening of the New Orleans Superdome for the NFL's Monday Night Football pre-game show.
At the end of 2006, Andrews appeared on the NBC television series Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. Leading a group of New Orleans musicians, he performed the holiday classic "O Holy Night". NBC released the single for free download.
In early 2007, New Orleans’ music magazine Offbeat named Andrews their Performer of the Year. He also garnered honors as Best Contemporary Jazz Performer. Also in 2007, he accepted an invitation to contribute to Goin' Home: A Tribute to Fats Domino on the track “Whole Lotta Lovin” along with Rebirth Brass Band, Pee Wee Ellis, Fred Wesley, Maceo Parker and Lenny Kravitz.
As of 2009, his current project is Orleans Avenue, a funk/pop/hip-hop mix including musicians Mike Ballard on bass, Dan Oestreicher on baritone sax, Tim McFatter on tenor sax, Pete Murano on guitar and Joey Peebles on drums.
Since 2010, Andrews has appeared in six episodes of the HBO series Treme.
In 2010 Andrews released Backatown (Verve Forecast), which hit Billboard magazine's Contemporary Jazz Chart at No. 1 and stayed there for nine consecutive weeks. Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue toured across Australia, North America, Europe, Japan and Brazil, as well as supported shows for Jeff Beck in the U.K. and Dave Matthews Band in the U.S. They performed on television shows including Conan, Late Show with David Letterman, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Bonnaroo, and Austin City Limits. He also recorded on new and upcoming CDs from Galactic, Eric Clapton, and Lenny Kravitz and on the Academy Award nominated song "Down In New Orleans" with Dr. John.
In December 2010, Andrews curated a two-night Red Hot+New Orleans performance at the Brooklyn Academy of Music to raise money for the New Orleans NO/AIDS Task Force.
In September 2011, Andrews released the album For True as a follow up to his earlier album Backatown. Along with all the members of his band, Orleans Avenue, this record includes appearances by the Rebirth Brass Band, Jeff Beck, Warren Haynes, Stanton Moore, Kid Rock, Ben Ellman and Lenny Kravitz as a returning guest artist.
On January 8, 2012 Andrews performed the National Anthem before the start of the NFL playoff game between the New York Giants and Atlanta Falcons.
Soul Rebels Brass Band invited Andrews to special guest on their Rounder Records debut record, Unlock Your Mind, released on January 31, 2012.
On May 19, 2012, Andrews received the President's Medal from Tulane University President Scott Cowen at the university's Unified Commencement Ceremony at the Mercedez-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, in recognition of his community service work with the Horns for Schools Project. He thrilled the graduates and visitors by playing the trombone and singing "When the Saints Go Marching In" along with Dr. Michael White's Original Liberty Jazz Band at the ceremony.
On February 21, 2012, Andrews performed at The White House as part of the Black History Month celebration, In Performance at the White House: Red, White & Blues, which premiered on PBS on February 27, 2012. The event featured performances from B.B. King, Jeff Beck, Keb' Mo', Mick Jagger, Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks and more. Earlier that day, Andrews also participated in a special education program at The White House with Michelle Obama, Keb' Mo' and Shemekia Copeland.
The Trombone Shorty Foundation[edit]
The Trombone Shorty Foundation evolved from Andrews' Horns For Schools Project, a collaboration with New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu, which helped schools across New Orleans receive quality instruments donated by Andrews personally. The Foundation's mission is "to preserve and perpetuate the unique musical culture of New Orleans by passing down its traditions to future generations of musicians." In December 2012, the Foundation partnered with Tulane University to create an After School Academy to mentor aspiring, high school musicians in the New Orleans Area.Cite error: There are <ref> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist}} template (see the help page).
