A Young Torchbearer Lights The Way For New Orleans Music Students

In New Orleans, it’s cool to be in the high school band — especially when Trombone Shorty shows up in the band room.

The brass player and bandleader recently paid a visit to New Orleans’ Warren Easton High School to work with band members. It’s part of his work with the Trombone Shorty Foundation, a music education initiative.

“[Trombone Shorty] is, without a doubt, the role model for the next generation right now,” says Bill Taylor, the foundation’s executive director.

In the school’s hallway, Taylor explains that the Trombone Shorty Foundation teams up with Tulane University to give promising young musicians a deeper skill set.

“New Orleans is filled with a lot of musical talent,” Taylor says. “Sometimes the opportunities are lacking to take it to the next level. [Trombone Shorty] is an example of a musician — there are many over the years, Harry Connick [Jr.], the Marsalises — that have really broken through to that next level.”

The new record from Trombone Shorty, now 27, is in the Top 5 on Billboard‘s jazz chart. But it’s hard to confine Say That to Say This to any one genre: The album takes a romp from rock and funk to jazz and soul, all rooted in the styles of his native New Orleans. Now Shorty, born Troy Andrews, is trying to keep the New Orleans sound evolving by engaging the city’s young talent.

Andrews grew up in New Orleans’ Tremé neighborhood, surrounded by musicians. His older brother James is a noted trumpet player and bandleader. His grandfather Jesse Hill was an R&B singer known for the New Orleans classic “Ooh Poo Pah Doo.” From the time he was about 4, Andrews was playing trumpet and trombone in the streets and onstage with icons like Bo Diddley, Dr. John and The Neville Brothers. By age 18, he was on tour backing Lenny Kravitz.

Further reading: http://www.npr.org/2013/10/10/231141645/a-young-torchbearer-lights-the-way-for-new-orleans-music-students