New Orleans musician Troy Andrews, aka Trombone Shorty, is only 29 years old, but he’s been leading bands and touring for more than two decades. Now one of the Crescent City’s most recognizable musicians, Andrews plays a dizzying number of gigs every year with Orleans Avenue, his band, and spends his off nights sitting in with the likes of Prince and Dave Grohl, who featured him on an episode of his HBO series “Sonic Highways.”
Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue perform at College Street Music Hall in New Haven on Thursday, July 2.
CTNow: I’ve read that you play up to 250 gigs a year. Do they all start to bleed together after awhile?
Trombone Shorty: Every night is very different, because you’re in a new setting with a new audience. We remember most of them. They don’t really bleed together too much, because we feed off the crowd and we feed off the energy. Some places people are more reserved until the end of the show. Some people listen. Some people go crazy from the first note that we play. It’s all different, and it helps us to separate so that they don’t bleed together. We might not remember after a couple of years, but when we go back, we say, “Oh, yeah, I remember this place,” and we’re able to talk about everything that happened.
CTNow: Is playing as many gigs as possible simply the name of the game now for artists, economically speaking, or is a balance between that and having the compulsion to perform?
TS: For me, I have to play. Even if I’m home for a month or two weeks, I’ll go join in on my friend’s gig and just be a sideman. I just have to make some type of music. On the other side of it, we’re also very blessed that people want to see us and call us from all over to come and play all over the world. When we get those calls and we’re able to play them and make it work, it’s just so exciting. For me, I’ve been playing since I was four. I’ve been touring with my brother’s band since I was seven, every summer. Playing music and just playing every day as much as I can: that’s all I know. It doesn’t matter if we get called for a gig or not. We’ll find some type of way to jam out somewhere, in the parking lot or in a street parade in New Orleans. Music is just what we do.
CTNow: As one of New Orleans’ more recognizable musicians, do you feel a certain amount of responsibility in the way you represent the city to other places?
TS: Yes, definitely. New Orleans is such a special place, and everybody knows what it means to the rest of the world. People are fans of New Orleans, just the city itself. Whenever we play anywhere in Australia and we say we’re from New Orleans, people cheer. But for me, I do have a responsibility to represent the city through my own interpretation of what I grew up playing, what I learned and where I’m going now. Everything I do, New Orleans is in my blood, in my notes and in my heart. That’s the only way we know how to play it.
CTNow: You’ve worked with so many different artists, but one that stands out for me is Prince. How did you meet, and what’s it like to play with him?
TS: I met him a few years ago, and we’ve done a few things here and there for the last four or five years. The first time I met him I was with Lenny Kravitz. I was around 19 or 20 years old. I met him very briefly backstage. It was a quick thing because we were going onstage. Then he called for me to play on an album [“Superconductor”] that he was producing for his artist, Andy Allo. It was me and Maceo Parker and Prince and two other people in the studio. The session happened at 11 p.m. or midnight. Over the past few years, he popped up at one of my shows in New York, just at the side of the stage, and hung out. No one knew he was there. And then I played a jam session with him somewhere. Just last year, he invited me to be a special guest with him in my hometown at the Essence Festival in the Superdome, and it was just great. I jammed out with him at rehearsal. He’s just an incredible person and an incredible musician. His guitar playing: I just sit back and watch and try to listen, maybe steal some things.
CTNow: Jamming out with Prince, or with anyone else: what’s needed of you to join in? Does someone shout out a key? Do you come up with a riff, then take a solo? What’s needed of you to get going?
TS: Me being a soloist, I just jump head-first into the water. When I pick up my horn, I don’t need anyone to tell me the key or anything. We play so much, coming from New Orleans, that improvisation is a very strong thing for us. I just jump up. They lay the foundation with the groove, and I play and listen. My ears are my eyes. I know when to end. They’ll give me some type of cue, or I’ll cue them. We’re speaking through the language of music. Even if we’ve never played together, there are certain things, small indicators that we can speak through music that let us know where we’re going and what we want to do.
CTNow: When you’ve hooked up with somebody musically like that, do you feel a certain bond with them, as though you’ve jumped ahead a few years in your friendship?
TS: I don’t know. When you do that, and it feels great, both parties either walk up and say, “Hey man, we have to do this more often,” and then the relationship builds from there. There’s a possibility that we may want to have each other on a record or album, even write songs or jam again. Sometimes you just have that special connection with musicians that just feels great. When you’re spiritually connected like that through music, the doors open up to wider things for you.
CTNow: When you sit in with a loud rock band like the Foo Fighters, is it sometimes difficult for an instrument like the trombone to find its place in the mix?
TS: Well, it does get pretty loud when I sit in with the Foo Fighters. Coming from New Orleans street parades, we play for four hours with no microphones. I’m able to pump it up a little bit naturally, but with the help of a mic, it’s cool. But I listen to all styles of music, and I attempt to play all styles of music, so when I get up there, there’s a different approach, whether I’m playing with a funk band or a Latin band. I know how to approach that type of stage or play those kinds of riffs, even how not to play so many notes or keep some notes out. I always wanted to be able to jump onstage with different people and have some type of knowledge of how to approach it. My whole life, I’ve listened to all styles of music, because you never know who you’re going to jump onstage with. I want to be comfortable. I just listen and listen and listen and get in there, you know.
CTNow: What can we expect from the show?
TS: We’re going to have a lot of fun. We’re going to bring a big New Orleans party, like a big Mardi Gras, going to be jamming out, rocking out, and most importantly it’s going to be a big dance party. There’ll be nothing but joy coming out of the horns.
TROMBONE SHORTY & ORLEANS AVENUE perform at College Street Music Hall in New Haven on Thursday, July 2 at 8 p.m. Tickets are $25-$30. Information: collegestreetmusichall.com.
