The wiry 21-year-old crowd-surfed, moon-walked and beat-boxed. His six-piece band Orleans Avenue swung from jazz and funk to rock and hip-hop. Troy "Trombone Shorty" Andrews' performance May 12 at the Cuban Club Courtyard in Ybor City shines as one of the most exhilarating events in Tropical Heatwave's 26-year history.
Andrews alternated between trombone and trumpet; he sang and rapped and chanted, cajoled audience members to shake their asses and jump around — and to catch him when he leaped from the stage into their arms. They did and passed him around over their heads.
The band transformed AC/DC's "Back in Black" into a jubilant, trombone-led Second Line stomp. With Andrews on trumpet, they reworked "When the Saints Go Marching In" as a rock number and recast "St. James Infirmary" with a Latin flair. At no point in the hour-long set did the energy level sag. People danced, smiled and shook their heads in awe from the opening instrumental to the encore.
"That show was one of the real highlights of the year," Andrews says from his residence in the French Quarter.
WMNF and its listeners were so impressed that the station has invited Andrews and Orleans Avenue back to headline a New Year's bash at the Coliseum in St. Petersburg.
"Tampa is gonna be my second home now," Andrews enthuses.
It's a Wednesday afternoon, and he's enjoying a rare day off. Last night, the versatile horn player named "Best Performer" this year by venerable Crescent City publication Offbeat played the First Baptist Church of New Orleans with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra and the gospel choir Shades of Praise. A sure highlight was his rendition of "O Holy Night," the same number he performed last year around this time on an episode of NBC's Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin and Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco were at the church to greet the crowd and honor one of the state's most promising luminaries.
"It was a big show last night, a free show for the city," Andrews says. "We had real fun, a lot of fun; the mayor was there, and the governor, she gave me a certificate of being an ambassador for the state."
Yeah, it's been a huge year for Andrews, the former child prodigy who has been winning over crowds nationwide with his intense brand of Big Easy sounds presented with a hard-rock and hip-hop edge.
"Basically, all New Orleans music is about dancing and having fun," he explains. "I've always been the type of person to take risks. In my personal life, I'm a big fan of different types of music — everything from Lil Wayne and Juvenile to Michael Jackson, AC/DC and Garth Brooks. I'm all about expanding my music vocabulary.
"Over and over I've been taking big chances, just doing what I do," he continues. "A lot of people do not expect a horn player to do what I do. They expect straight jazz. Well, I've done that. I went through that phase. After that, I had to get back to what I know: playing music that makes people feel good."
Did Andrews say he listens to Garth Brooks?
"I always had this thing as a kid to listen to every type of music you can," he replies. "Never know whose going to call you. If I ever get a chance to play with these people, I want to be authentic, be able to approach every kind of music in the right way. I listen to music for pleasure and for knowledge. There are all these things I pick up. My band members call me SpongeBob. They can hear the different things I've been listening to when I play."
Born and raised in New Orleans' predominantly black, culturally rich Tremé neighborhood in the French Quarter, Andrews was a bandleader by age 6. He spent his high-school years studying jazz at the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts (NOCCA), the same institution that groomed Wynton and Branford Marsalis, as well as Harry Connick Jr. In 2005, Lenny Kravitz selected Andrews to join his horn section for a world tour that included dates with Aerosmith. While playing arenas in front of screaming seas of fans, Andrews decided it was time to broaden his musical vision, which had previously been a more conventional blend of Crescent City funk and jazz with an emphasis on instrumentals.
"When we came back to New Orleans after Katrina, after I finished the tour with Lenny, I got stuck on rock music," Andrews says. "It was weird, because the night before [Kravitz] called me, I had told the band we needed to go more in a rock direction like Lenny.
"He called me the next day and I thought one of my band members was joking with me. I took the knowledge from that tour and put it back into my band, came out and started taking huge chances by doing stuff like AC/DC and Lenny.
"We took risks, but my crowd has grown bigger than ever because I'm doing something not normal for a horn player," he continues. "I'm not trying to play like Louis Armstrong or be Miles Davis. I'm creating my own niche. People appreciate that."
Andrews, who performed last year with U2 and Green Day during the Monday Night Football pre-game show at the Superdome, has yet to get his new sound on record. But that's going to change soon. He plans to have his breakthrough album out next year, followed by a DVD.
"On the next record, there will be something to compete on radio that showcases all my abilities," he says. "Once we do this record, I'm looking to compete with the big names, bring in big-name producers and get it played on Top 40. I'm going to be singing on 90 percent of it. I want to be able to play to mass audiences — reach those people that want songs that can be played on radio and be No. 1. That's my next risk."
