A native of New Orleans, Troy Andrews, best know as Trombone Shorty got his start, and his nickname, while making his first appearance at The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival performing with Bo Diddley when he was four-years old. By age six, he led his own brass band, and by his teenage years was hired by Lenny Kravitz to join the band Kravitz assembled for his Electric Church World Tour.
Since 2010, Shorty has released four chart-topping studio albums, toured with Jeff Beck and Red Hot Chili Peppers, and collaborated across genres with Pharrell, Bruno Mars, Mark Ronson, Foo Fighters, ZHU, Zac Brown, Normani, Ringo Starr and many others. He’s also performed at several prestigious festivals including Coachella, Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza, Newport Folk, and Newport Jazz.
Lifted, Trombone Shorty’s second release for Blue Note Records, taps into the raw power and electrifying grooves of their live shows. The writing is bold, coming from a self-confidence earned by years of simply playing with everyone, learning something new with each collaboration. Lifted is the work of a master craftsman, highlighted by the judicious use of carefully chosen special guests ranging from Gary Clark Jr. and Lauren Daigle to the rhythm section from Shorty’s high school band, showing Shorty’s expanding vocabulary across the genres.
“The whole time we were making Lifted, I couldn’t help but think about how much fun it would be to get on stage and play it for an audience,” Shorty recalls. “Usually when I make an album, I record the songs first and figure out how we’re going to present them live afterwards, but with this record I was in the studio imagining the lights flashing on the hits and the audience singing everything back to us. I could see the whole thing in my head.”
But for Trombone Shorty, the show never ends. Radio is already playing the album with some stations spinning both the album and the tracks “Come Back,” and “What It Takes.” Among those stations are WFUV, WRLT, WAPS, WDST, WNXP, KXT, WXPN, and more.
Photo by Justen Williams