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trombone shorty
Orleans Avenue: Michael “Bass” Ballard,
“Freaky Pete” Murano, Joey “In
and Out” Peebles, Troy “Trombone
Shorty” Andrews, Tim McFatter,
Dwayne “Big D” Williams and Dan
“Uncle Potato Chip” Oestreicher
Fred Greissing
The cover of the first record by Troy “Trombone Shorty” Andrews & Orleans Avenue,
as they were then billed, featured five fresh-faced teenagers Photoshopped
into an image of the New Orleans skyline. Dressed in near-matching striped and
plaid button-down shirts, the musicians on the cover of Orleans & Claiborne (Treme
Records) doled out liner-note thanks to their jazz camp, to their high school and to
their family members—all expressions of youthful enthusisam, to be sure.
The band’s recent ascent to international acclaim may have
ushered in an era of swankier album packaging, but in a way
that first cover illustrates what makes 2011’s version of Orleans
Avenue click. Members of the now seven-piece ensemble
share so many common experiences that they seem to trust
each other completely with new ideas and approaches.
Though relatively new to the group, percussionist Dwayne
“Big D” Williams has known Troy Andrews for most of his life
and was part of the early Trombone Shorty Brass Band back
when they were kids. The lifelong friends are given to gleeful
accounts of hanging out on their block of Dumaine Street, using
cardboard boxes, water bottles and tree branches to imitate
their idols, the Rebirth Brass Band. Their neighborhood included
the Candlelight Lounge, where Lionel Batiste and the Treme
Brass Band still hold court on Wednesday nights, as well as the
now-shuttered Joe’s Cozy Corner and Trombone Shorty’s, the
barroom that Andrews’ mother named after him when he was
still in grade school. Together, Williams and Andrews navigated
the Treme’s ups and downs.
“All of those kids were playing this music,” Williams says,
but he believes his and Andrews’ decision to avoid drugs, alcohol
and cigarettes helped them to get ahead. Williams’ previous
stint in the Stooges Brass Band also keeps him rooted in what
his neighborhood peers are up to musically.
Andrews and bassist Mike Ballard, meanwhile, met at Louis
Armstrong Jazz Camp during elementary school, and they immediately
understood each other’s approach to music.
“We read each other’s thoughts,” says Andrews. “It’s like we
know our instincts, and when we don’t, you’ll hear some noises
onstage like, ‘Oh, OK, I see where you’re going.’”
Another jazz camp alum, drummer Joey Peebles, caught
Andrews’ eye during a performance. “I went backstage after
the show to meet him,” Andrews recalls. “I asked him to come
sit in with me. We played Donna’s, I think, and he came in and
he upstaged my drummer at that time ... he’s been with me
every day since.”
Andrews, Ballard, Peebles and former Orleans Avenue
member Jonathan Batiste all went on to study jazz together at
the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts, where they gained
experience with new instruments as well as new ideas.
“I was a horn player, so I can hear a lot of melodic parts or
spell out parts on the horn,” says Ballard, explaining another
way in which he and his bandmates work through new music
together.
Guitarist Pete Murano (a rock-rooted graduate of Loyola
University), baritone saxophonist Dan Oestreicher and tenor
player Tim McFatter round out the band.
Between them, the members of Orleans Avenue have access
to a wide range of tastes and abilities. Ballard says they
have no problem taking the time to explore new territory.
“You try it all,” he advises. “If you don’t, no ideas will be able
to get out. If you can’t feel what you’re doing, then it won’t work.
If it starts to feel good, you can form it into anything.”
—Jennifer Odell
28 DOWNBEAT DECEMBER 2011