Trombone Shorty plays Berkeley’s revamped UC Theater.
New Orleans bandleader to help rechristen venue as music hall
When it comes to celebrating arrivals and departures, no city in America does it better than New Orleans. It’s just one reason it’s a booking coup that the Crescent City’s foremost young cultural ambassador is launching the Bay Area’s newest major venue.
After seven years of planning, Berkeley’s UC Theatre plans to open its doors as a music hall this weekend with Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue on Saturday, March 26, after a sold-out show with headliners They Might Be Giants on Friday, March 25.
For Trombone Shorty, also known as Troy Andrews, getting a party started is second nature.
“It’s part of our culture to celebrate transitions, to play when people are born and to christen things and when people pass away,” he says. “I’m happy they thought of me because this is part of what we do.”
In the six years since re- leasing his first solo album, “Backatown” (Verve Forecast), Andrews has become far more than the most visible exponent of New Orleans’ ever-evolving celebratory sound. He’s garnered international following and doubled down on his commitment to passing on the traditions he absorbed as a child in the neighborhood of Tremé, playing street music in brass bands. Andrews’ autobiographical children’s book with illustrator Bryan Collier, “Trombone Shorty,” tells his against-the-odds rise to fame and recently earned a Caldecott award.
Next month, in between the
two weekends of the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, the Trombone Shorty Foundation also plans to host its fourth annual Shorty Fest, a benefit for the foundation’s music education programs designed to inculcate the rising generation with the musical culture of New Orleans. Shorty Fest features Orleans Avenue, guest artists playing Jazz Fest, and some of the most talented grade-school musicians in the region.
“I started the foundation and academy because I wanted to have a positive impact on kids, to get them to stick with music and go forward if they’re really serious and true to their passion,” says the 30-yearold musician. “I know how music can be a savior, how it can serve as a passport to see the world.”
What’s most impressive about Andrews is not that he’s maintained such close ties to his hometown, it’s the way he’s projected his take on the music of New Orleans so far beyond the city without diluting its essence. Featuring a supremely funky rhythm section with drummer Joey Peebles, guitarist Peter Murano and bassist Michael Ballard, and a three-horn front line with tenor saxophonist BK Jackson and baritone saxophonist Dan Oestreicher, Orleans Avenue packs the sonic wallop of an expressway.
Moving effortlessly between vocals, trumpet and trombone (and sometimes drums and bass), Andrews has honed a sound that’s much bigger than the band’s six pieces. His approach to the horn arrangements stems from his on-the-job training playing events as a child.
“You’ve got to remember, having just three horns is different than what I grew up with,” he says. “I was surrounded by at least five, six or sometimes seven horns, and we all played together. When some of the band wouldn’t make it to the gig, we’d have to pick up that slack. You have to learn to play the part that’s missing while still playing your part.”
In the midst of assembling material for this fourth album — his last release was 2013’s “Say That to This” (Verve) — Andrews has yet to reveal his full creative potential. In the studio by himself, Andrews is at his most unfettered, moving between various keyboards, horns, bass guitar, drums and percussion to create new pieces. Onstage, he’s a genially charismatic ringleader who transforms any venue he plays into a welcoming redoubt of New Orleans.
“His performances are so electric,” says David Mayeri, the former Bill Graham Presents chief operating officer who spearheaded the UC Theatre’s revival. “He’s just an amazing performer, whether he’s doing the jazz stuff I favor, or funk, hip-hop, even rock. He wasn’t touring, but we sought him out as the perfect artist to open the UC, and we’re so fortunate the timing worked out.”