Trombone Shorty
It all comes back to New Orleans.
It’s where, long before he was Trombone Shorty, Troy Andrews grew up in the middle of the music.
“I crawled around and played in tubas,” he says. It certainly makes sense that Andrews would have a musical home. His brother is trumpeter and bandleader James Andrews, and his grandfather was R&B singer Jessie Hill. During his childhood, the two instruments up for grabs in his house were a drum set and a trombone.
“I just stuck with the trombone, and my brother kept me by his side and taught me as we went.,” Andrews says, “I just tried to imitate him, and so here I am now.”
Where he is, specifically, is amid his longest running tour yet with Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue. They dropped Say That To This last year, and this year, they’ll play at least 200 shows, Andrews says. It’s hard to stay connected with home and family when he’s constantly on the road. When he gets the chance to return to New Orleans, though, he’s sure to say hi to his brother in a way that makes sense to their relationship.
“Whenever I go home, I’ll go sit in on his show,” Andrews says. “I’ll just surprise him and go play with him, wherever he’s playing.”
He also makes time to work hands-on with a project close to his heart, The Trombone Shorty Foundation. It started as the Trombone Shorty Academy when Andrews purchased instruments and took them to New Orleans schools. Now, the program partners with Tulane University to teach music and music business classes.
“I just wanted to be able to have an impact on the kids and be able to give them some things that some musicians never learn until too late in life,” Andrews explains. His brother showed him the ropes of being a professional in the music business. He was very young when he got started in the industry, and he says he wouldn’t have been able to do it without that guidance. Andrews wants the kids he works with through the Trombone Shorty Foundation to “have some tools to grow, take their music to another level and be prepared for the music business.”
Even though touring keeps him away from home, Andrews says he “wouldn’t trade it in for anything.” His big-band sound, which he and the rest of the band members dub “super funk rock,” pulls from all types of music in New Orleans: funk, soul, R&B, jazz and even a little hip-hop.
“It’s like a music gumbo,” Andrews says. It’s the city he grew up in that shapes his sound now.
“If I didn’t grow up there, I don’t know if my music would sound like that,” Andrews says. When given the chance to say what he loves about New Orleans, Andrews sums it up simply.
“Everything.” The people, the family, the food—the wonderful food—and most certainly, the 24-hour music scene.
“If you’re a musician, it’s great, and if you’re not a musician and you’re just a music lover, it’s a great place to be,” he says.
When the madness of touring subsides—if it does—Andrews hopes to get back in the studio. He hasn’t shown any new music to the band, not just yet. He’s starting to have the “juices” flowing, but he says the music isn’t ready for the other guys. He’ll take the scribbled notes about songs to the band when things calm down a little. Until then, they’ll keep busy with the live shows. After all, the stage is where this band lives.
“That’s where we live, on the stage and performing,” Andrews says. “For us, just to see the people out there dancing and having fun and forgetting about whatever life’s bringing ‘em through and allowing us to take over and bring some New Orleans music there, that’s really the point for us that we look forward to.”
