Trombone Shorty at ACL
What better way to gear up for Mardi Gras then to spend some quality time with Grammy-nominated, N’awlins-grade brass aficionados, Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue.
The night of February 16th began with an explosion of sound as the Austin Knights Brass Band marched single-file across the Austin City Limits Theatre and all around the surrounding city block in the Warehouse District, treating early birds to a unique musical experience. Once inside, concert-goers were greeted with the lively jams of the Dirty Dozen Brass Band.
Finally, as the lights went down and the crowd steadied themselves, the 7-piece band dubbed “Orleans Avenue” bellowed ominous bass lines in cogent anticipation of the show yet to come. Trombone Shorty walked steadily on stage into a singular yellow spotlight sporting dark shades and carrying his namesake trombone. Throughout the set, the smooth soul in his voice complimented the deep drumbeats and high-impact tangy brass.
The band played songs from throughout their repertoire as well as covering Ray Charles’s “I Got a Woman” and teasing what was almost positively a Rage Against the Machine song. If Trombone Shorty gets MVP of the night for making it look easy to switch between the trombone, trumpet, tambourine, drums and singing, then the drummer, Joe Peebles, gets honorable mention for uninterruptedly rocking out while the two stage hands under his feet scrambled to fix a technical difficulty for nearly five straight minutes.
Trombone Shorty, née Troy Andrews, was given his nickname when he began playing professional shows at the age of eight. His breakthrough album with Orleans Avenue, Backatown (2010), was nominated for a Grammy and their recently released For True (2011), co-written entirely by Andrews, has been widely admired by critics and audiences alike. Most recently, Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue played a private Mardi Gras concert at the White House with a small group of acclaimed artists including Austin’s own Gary Clark Jr., Jeff Beck, B.B. King, Mick Jagger, Warren Haynes, Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi. This show is scheduled to air next Wednesday, February 27th on PBS at 8pm CST.
By Sandy Castoro
Photographs by Katie Warner
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