New Orleans brought to you by Trombone Shorty

Editor’s note: Peter Lewis, food and entertainment writer for The City Wire, has interviewed several of the bands expected to play at the Wakarusa music festival north of Ozark. He is also providing reviews of some of the bands to play Wakarusa. The festival is set to be held on Mulberry Mountain near Ozark, June 4-7.

review by Peter Lewis

One of the more hyped up and coming artists scheduled to play Wakarusa is Trombone Shorty (Troy Andrews). It is, however, a slight misnomer to label Mr. Andrews as “up and coming.” Performing since he was a child, he has achieved a lifetime of experience by the young age of 23.

Born and raised in the Treme neighborhood of the Crescent City, Troy is well versed in the heritage of New Orleans. Furthermore, as a graduate of the prestigious New Orleans Center for the Creative Arts, his pedigree as a New Orleans musician is stellar.  Utilizing his background to the fullest, Shorty, in conjunction with his band Orleans Avenue, has created a unique musical melange of funk, pop, and hip-hop, dubbed SupaFunkRock.

Prior to his project with the Orleans Avenue band, Shorty had performed or toured with such vast luminaries as U2, Aerosmith, Lenny Kravitz, Norah Jones, Diana Krall and Juvenile. This variety of work seems to have furthered his music education, helping to bring other elements to the sound that would soon emerge. These elements seem to come to a head in late April of 2009 on the first weekend of the New Orleans Jazz Festival.

The combination of his rich, vibrant music and high energy stage persona made Shorty a legend of sorts in the Big Easy. While Shorty has amassed numerous accolades within the insular New Orleans scene, it wasn’t until the Jazz Festival that Shorty achieved a wider critical breakthrough. His breakthrough performances seemed to have been sensed in advance by the festival promoters, as he was on one of the festival’s two official posters. As the youngest musician ever to be featured on a festival poster, his potential as the coming musical king of New Orleans seems to have been cemented.

If there was pressure associated with this accolade, Shorty and his band certainly rose to the occasion. Throughout the weekend, Shorty and his band played showcase after showcase, proving not only their endurance but their worth as a burgeoning superstar act. Edna Gunderson of the USA Today exclaimed that Shorty and Orleans Avenue “delivered a blistering set of bold, exuberant and cutting edge jazz-rock fueled by funk and hip-hop.” With a packed tour taking him all over the nation (and the high seas as part of a Jam Cruise), Shorty’s musical accession is certainly in high gear.

Trombone Shorty is scheduled to play at 8:15 p.m., June 4 (Thursday) at the Revival Tent stage.

Peter can be reached at [email protected]