| ARTISTS' INFO > TROMBONE SHORTY & ORLEANS AVENUE |
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Back by popular demand Absolutely and without doubt the sensation of Timbre Rock & Roots 2011, Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue are back to do what they do best .... SupafunkROCK! No arguments ... the phenomenal performance last year and a Grammy-nominated debut album, Backatown, have won them hordes of new fans here in Singapore and we are pleased to welcome them back by demand. In the middle of all their constant touring last year, Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenuestill found time to record a new album ‘For True'. "We did over 200 shows in the last year and a half, and every night we allowed the music to take us over. Musically and creatively, we wanted to shoot for some different things." Troy ‘Trombone Shorty’ Andrews. The band - Mike Ballard on bass, Pete Murano on guitar, Joey Peebles on drums, Dwayne Williams on percussion, Dan Oestreicher on baritone sax and Tim McFatter on tenor sax - stirs together old-school New Orleans jazz, funk and soul, laced with hard-rock power chords and hip-hop beats, and they've added some tangy new ingredients on For True as they keep pushing the envelope, exploring new musical territory. Add to that an amazing guest line-up - Lenny Kravitz, Kid Rock, Jeff Beck, Ivan & Cyril Neville ,Warren Haynes, Ledisi, Ben Ellman from Galactic, and rapper 5th Ward Weebie - and it’s not hard to see why For True flew to the top of the US charts. “He’s a genius player” says Lenny Kravitz. “I was completely blown away.” says Jeff Beck ... who invited Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue to open for him on his UK dates last year. "I'm fans of all those people," says Troy ‘Trombone Shorty’ Andrews. "I met them over the last year or two of touring, and I've been wanting to work with all of those guys and Ledisi. It's like this musical community. It's not like I reached out to them because I needed some big names on the record. I'm really interested in their music and their talents. So for me it's a dream come true to work with some of my favourite artists. Whatever they need me to do, I'll be there." He started early, born and raised in Tremé in New Orleans, learning how to play drums and what he remembers as "the world's smallest trumpet" at the age of three. By the time he reached six, this prodigy was playing trumpet and trombone in a jazz band led by his older brother James, himself a trumpet player of local renown who has been called "Satchmo of the Ghetto." Not long afterward, Troy formed his own band with some other musically inclined kids from Tremé, including current band mate Williams, and they became regulars at Jackson Square, playing for spare change and pulling in as much as $400 apiece on a particularly hopping weekend. During a visit to a small New Orleans club, Bono and the Edge happened upon the trombone player, who was then 12. "We walked in and the place was jumping," the Edge recalled. "There was this little funk band, but they were all playing brass instruments, which is something I'd never heard of or seen before. We were just mesmerized by him. I ended up with Bono, after a few tequilas, dancing with a bunch of girls on the top of the bar. It was one of those sorts of nights." He paid his dues working behind Lenny Kravitz for 18 months – Lenny rates him as ’a genius player. ..... he plays his ass off, and he’s a beautiful human being.’ He holds great store to the ‘New Orleans tradition’ of music - and, while not only carrying on that tradition and expanding its boundaries, Troy has lent a generous helping hand to the next generation as well, having given longstanding support to the city's renowned Roots of Music program. Troy was also recently honoured by being named the youngest member of the NOCCA Foundation board - the foundation behind New Orleans' Centre for the Creative Arts where Troy and several of his band members studied and began collaborating. He's also finalizing plans for his own new foundation aimed at making sure that talented younger players with limited resources can get quality instruments to play. Last September, he started his first delivery of Trombone Shorty trumpets and trombones to talented young musicians across the city. Performing on: Saturday, 31 March 2012 For more information,
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