Trombone Shorty brings his 'supafunkrock' to Philadelphia

LOUIS ARMSTRONG served long and well as a cultural ambassador to the world. Now, it's Troy Andrews' turn - and if this whirlwind doesn't watch out, he could generate global peace.

Like Armstrong, Andrews climbs out of the cultural melting pot that is New Orleans. And even more so than "Satchmo," he's known by his stage nickname, Trombone Shorty.

Most important, both Satch and Shorty have shown a special gift for bringing diverse audiences and musical forms together, creating one big ol' happy family of sound that needs no translation.

Trombone Shorty calls his megamusic "supafunkrock," and it's taken him all over the planet into all kinds of settings, from jazz fests to Lollapalooza to a recurring role on the HBO series "Treme."

Along the way, he's performed with Jeff Beck, Kid Rock, Ledisi and Lenny Kravitz - just a few of the friends/admirers who returned the favor on Trombone Shorty's new "For True" album. A set that debuted atop the Billboard Contemporary Jazz Chart in September.

Shorty's crew even scored well, a "surprise to us," he recently allowed in a chat, at a reggae festival in Germany. In August, the band ruled the roost at the 50th Philadelphia Folk Festival.

Come Sunday, Trombone Shorty and friends (collectively called Orleans Avenue) will face a hipster crowd at Union Transfer, likewise sure to melt under his spell.

Wailing away on trumpet, tuba and keyboards as well as trombone, and singing sassily "because all New Orleans trumpet players are also singers," Shorty has to be one of the most engaging entertainers on earth.

A studly dude who makes the girls go all aflutter, Shorty is perpetually in motion, bouncing off walls and amplifiers, and even doing the occasional acrobatic split or flip. "I hate watching guys just standing there, taking a 10-minute trumpet solo, and I'm a trumpeter myself. James Brown really influenced me, in that regard."

The rock 'em, sock 'em stuff served by Shorty and Orleans Avenue - Mike Ballard on bass, Pete Murano on (very) electric guitar, Joey Peebles on drums, Dwayne Williams on percussion, Dan Oestreicher on baritone sax and Tim McFatter on tenor sax - is as hot and spicy as New Orleans jambalaya.

Of course, there's a whole lot of New Orleans jazz, funk and soul in the stock. But the band also samples scorching rock, hip-hop beats "and anything else we've picked up that day," making them the most embracing aggregation since the heydays of Parliament/Funkadelic or Sly & the Family Stone.

Just 25 "and in no rush to turn 26," he joked, music has always been Shorty's favorite form of entertainment. "It's the heartbeat of my city. If we didn't have that, we wouldn't know what to do."

Hailing from the Treme neighborhood in New Orleans' 6th Ward, the guy started out playing drums and "the world's smallest trumpet" at age 3. He earned his nickname the following year from his older, bandleading brother, James, after being spotted marching in a street parade with a trombone as long as he was tall.

By the time he was "6 or 7," Shorty was already touring the world in bro's jazz band, then came home and formed his own group, which became a regular at Jackson Square, a favorite tourist destination.

Another important influence and wise counsel was Shorty's grandfather Jessie Hill, best known as author/performer of the groovin' R&B classic "Ooh Poo Pah Doo." "He would come around to see us practicing. He'd tell us about showmanship and how we had to make sure we got our publishing together. We had no idea what he was talking about then, but definitely do now."

New Orleans legends like the Neville Brothers and Rebirth Brass Band (both also guests on the new album), Wynton Marsalis, Dr. John and Allen Toussaint would also become role models and friends. (On the occasion of Shorty becoming the youngest artist ever pictured on the official poster of the New Orleans Heritage and Jazz Fest, displacing Marsalis, the latter declared, "Shorty possesses the rarest combination of talent, technical capability and down-home soul. I'm his biggest fan.")

Shorty also has an important link to our region through Bill Taylor. A transplant from Wilmington, Del., Taylor worked in the Crescent City as a DJ, on the New Orleans jazz fest, then in music education running the Tipitina's Foundation.

In the latter capacity, Taylor became mentor to a teenage Andrews, getting him into an internship that gave the young musician recording-studio experience and introduced him to visiting artists. Taylor also "tutored Shorty with school subjects, hung with his family and kept him away from the usual occupational hazards," he told me a few months back.

Taylor returned to Wilmington three years ago to get the World Cafe Live at The Queen theater restoration project off the ground. Trombone Shorty became one of the facility's best fundraisers/cultural ambassadors, putting on shows that inspired almost every moneyed interest in the state to cough up funding.

"All Bill's ever had to do is send me a text and we find a way there," Shorty said of his pal. "We really miss him down in New Orleans. He was like a member of my family."