Trombone Shorty — NOLA Music

TromboneShorty

Born: New Orleans, LA, January 2, 1986 — Active

Troy Andrews — Trombone Shorty — grew up in the Tremé, the oldest African American neighborhood in the United States, and by the time he was six years old he was leading his own brass band through its streets. He has been making music with the urgency and joy of someone who knows exactly where he came from ever since.

Never heard Trombone Shorty before?

Troy Andrews got his nickname as a four-year-old marching in Tremé brass bands with a trombone bigger than he was — and he never stopped. By thirteen he was touring with Lenny Kravitz; his 2010 major-label debut Backatown announced ‘Supafunkrock,’ his fusion of jazz, funk, rock, and hip-hop rooted in the Tremé tradition. He’s since collaborated with U2, Foo Fighters, and Jeff Beck, and closes the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival like a head of state. His Trombone Shorty Foundation puts instruments in the hands of New Orleans kids.

🎵 Breakthrough Album

Backatown (2010)

🎬 Supafunkrock Peak

For True (2011)

👑 Latest Statement

Lifted (2022)

Shorty’s annual Jazz Fest closing set has become a civic holiday — and his Shorty Fest fundraiser supports the foundation that keeps music in New Orleans schools.

Why We Love Trombone Shorty

He carries the entire Tremé brass-band lineage — his brother James Andrews, the second lines, the street parades — into arenas and late-night television without sanding off a single edge. The horn playing is genuinely virtuosic, but the feel is pure neighborhood: every solo sounds like it learned to walk in a parade.

And he gives it back. The Trombone Shorty Foundation, the school instruments, the mentoring — he’s building the pipeline he came through. Trombone Shorty is the proof that New Orleans tradition isn’t preserved under glass. It’s lived, loud, and getting louder.

Biography

Supafunkrock from the Tremé

Andrews was born into New Orleans music royalty — his older brother James Andrews is one of the city's great trumpet players, and he grew up surrounded by the musicians who define the tradition. He began performing professionally as a child and was on stage with Lenny Kravitz and the Rolling Stones before he was a teenager. His 2010 debut Backatown announced his arrival on the national scene with a fully formed sound he calls 'Supafunkrock' — a combination of jazz, funk, hip-hop, and rock that is unmistakably rooted in New Orleans while reaching far beyond it. His annual Voodoo Threauxdown tour has made him one of the most successful live draws in contemporary music.