Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue

Troy Andrews, known worldwide as Trombone Shorty, was born and raised in New Orleans’s historic Treme neighborhood, one of the oldest African American communities in the United States and a birthplace of jazz culture. A childhood prodigy, he debuted onstage with Bo Diddley at just four years old, was leading his own brass band by six, and was touring with Lenny Kravitz by thirteen. Andrews’s grandfather was R&B singer and songwriter Jesse Hill, of Ooh Poo Pah Doo fame, and his older brother James Andrews is a respected trumpeter, giving Trombone Shorty deep roots in a genuine New Orleans musical dynasty. His sound, which he calls Supafunkrock, fuses rock, funk, jazz, soul, and hip-hop with the second-line brass band tradition he grew up in. His 2010 major label breakthrough Backatown, produced by Galactic’s Ben Ellman, debuted at number one on Billboard’s Contemporary Jazz Albums chart and earned a Grammy nomination. Fiercely devoted to his home neighborhood, Andrews created the Trombone Shorty Foundation, personally donating quality instruments to local schools, and now closes the annual New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival in the festival’s most prestigious closing slot.