Troy Andrews (born January 2, 1986), also known by the stage name Trombone Shorty, is an American musician, producer, and philanthropist from New Orleans, Louisiana. He is best known as a trombone and trumpet player but also plays drums, organ, and tuba. He has worked with some of the biggest names in rock, pop, jazz, funk, and hip hop. Andrews is the younger brother of trumpeter and bandleader James Andrews III and the grandson of singer and songwriter Jessie Hill. Andrews began playing trombone at age four, and since 2009 has toured with his own band, Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue.
Life and career
Andrews was born to James Andrews Jr. and Lois Andrews in New Orleans and grew up in the culturally vibrant Tremé neighborhood, steeped in New Orleans jazz, R&B and music-related traditions such as second line parades. Andrews' family have deep roots in the music scene of New Orleans - his grandfather was musician Jessie Hill, his great-uncle Walter "Papoose" Nelson played with Fats Domino, and Andrews' mother Lois Nelson Andrews was a regular grand marshal of jazz funerals and second-line parades in New Orleans, where she routinely encouraged young musicians and was known as the "Mother of Music" and "Queen of the Tremé". Andrews' father James Andrews Jr., a member of the Bayou Steppers Social Aid & Pleasure Club, would frequently invite musician friends to visit their home. Other musical family members include his brother James Andrews III and cousins Glen David Andrews and the late Travis "Trumpet Black" Hill.
At the age of four, Andrews started playing a trombone given to him by his brother James "because the family already had a trumpet player". Bo Diddley heard the four-year-old Andrews playing and invited him on stage at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. He participated in brass band parades as a child, becoming a band leader by the age of six. In his teens, he was a member of the Stooges Brass Band. Andrews' parents opened a nightclub in Tremé called Trombone Shorty's, where he would play on occasion as a child, as well as a jam space for musicians called "The Space". Andrews attended the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts (NOCCA) along with fellow musician Jon Batiste. Since his youth, Andrews has been mentored by Cyril Neville, whom he calls "a second father". Andrews graduated in 2004 from Warren Easton High School.
In 2005, Andrews was a featured member of Lenny Kravitz's horn section in a world tour that shared billing with acts including Aerosmith. Andrews was part of the New Orleans Social Club, a group formed after Hurricane Katrina to record a benefit album. He was featured guest on "Hey Troy, Your Mama's Calling You," a tribute to "Hey Leroy, Your Mama's Calling You" a Latin jazz song by the Jimmy Castor Bunch in 1966.
Andrews is interviewed on screen and appears in performance footage in the 2005 documentary film Make It Funky!, which presents a history of New Orleans music and its influence on rhythm and blues, rock and roll, funk and jazz. In the film, he performed with Kermit Ruffins and Irvin Mayfield on "Skokiaan", and was a guest performer with the Dirty Dozen Brass Band on "My Feet Can't Fail Me Now" as well as a guest performer with Big Sam's Funky Nation on "Bah Duey Duey".
Andrews performed on "Where Y'At" as part of the Sixth Ward All-Star Brass Band Revue featuring Charles Neville of The Neville Brothers.
In London, during the summer of 2006, Andrews began working with producer Bob Ezrin and U2 at Abbey Road Studios. This association led to Andrews performing with U2 and Green Day during the re-opening of the New Orleans Superdome for the Monday Night Football pre-game show.
At the end of 2006, Andrews appeared on the NBC television series Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. Leading a group of New Orleans musicians, he performed the holiday classic "O Holy Night". NBC released the single as a free download.
In 2007, he accepted an invitation to contribute to Goin' Home: A Tribute to Fats Domino on the track "Whole Lotta Lovin" along with Rebirth Brass Band, Pee Wee Ellis, Fred Wesley, Maceo Parker and Lenny Kravitz.
Between 2010 and 2013, Andrews appeared in seven episodes of the HBO series Treme.