Grammy Award nominee and critically acclaimed headliner at his hometown’s New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival again this year,Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue return to The Ridgefield Playhouse on Friday, May 24th at 8pm with an upbeat, high-energy night of hard-edged funk, hip-hop beats, rock dynamics and improvisation in the great tradition of jazz. Touring in support of his new album,Parking Lot Symphony, a recent review in Spill Magazine describes their live show as what it must be like to be at a New Orleans’ block party. Opening Act is Funky Dawgz Brass Band. This event is part of Moffly Media Evening of Art, Wine & Jazz Series and Pepsi Rock Series powered by Xfinity. Join us in the lobby before the show for a wine tasting and art exhibit by Andres Chaparro. Make it a great night out with dinner and a show! Visit Bailey’s Backyard (23 Bailey Avenue, Ridgefield) for an early dinner and receive 10% off when you show your ticket! Media sponsor for this event is WFUV 90.7.
Raised in one of the Tremé’s most musical families, Trombone Shorty (aka Troy Andrews) got his name when he picked up his instrument at four, “My parents pushed me toward trombone because they didn’t need another trumpet player,” he laughs. By eight, he led his own band in parades, halls and even bars: “They’d have to lock the door so the police couldn’t come in.” Promoters would try to hand money to his older cousins, but they’d kindly redirect them to the boy. In his teens, Andrews played shows abroad with the Neville Brothers. Fresh out of high school (New Orleans Center for Creative Arts) he joined Lenny Kravitz’ band. Across that time, three Trombone Shorty albums and many collaborations since, Andrews nurtured a voracious appetite for all types of music. Since his last LP, Andrews banked his fifth White House gig; backed Macklemore and Madonna at the Grammys; played on albums by She & Him, Zac Brown, Dierks Bentley, and Mark Ronson; opened tours for Daryl Hall & John Oates and Red Hot Chili Peppers; appeared in Foo Fighters’ Sonic Highways documentary series; voiced the iconic sound of the adult characters in The Peanuts Movie; inherited the esteemed annual fest-closing set at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival in the tradition of Crescent City greats like the Neville Brothers and Professor Longhair; and released Trombone Shorty, a children’s book about his life that was named a Caldecott Honor Book in 2016.
His Blue Note Records debut, Parking Lot Symphony finds Andrews teamed with Grammy-nominated producer Chris Seefried (Andra Day, Fitz and the Tantrums) and an unexpected array of co-writers and players including members of Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros, The Meters, Better Than Ezra, and Dumpstaphunk. It’s worth noting that Andrews’ vocals sound better than ever (he credits Seefried for that), because Parking Lot Symphony might be the man’s most heartfelt offering yet. The breezy title track, which Andrews wrote with Alex Ebert (Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros), is as much about walking the Tremé, being uplifted by the music that seems to seep from every surface, as it is about moving on from a broken heart. And the shuffling, bluesy “No Good Time” reminds us, with a world-weary smile, that “nobody never learned nothin’ from no good time.”
Andres Chaparro is a mixed media painter and collagist whose bold and expressive art is a visual representation of jazz music. Chaparro’s work most recently in 2017 has been published in the book “Making The Cut, Volume 1, The World’s Best Collage Artists” by Crooks Press in Australia. As his work continues to rise in recognition and garnered by art and music enthusiasts around the globe, Andres continues to refine his own visual vocabulary through his focus on the intersection between art and music.
For tickets ($90) call or visit the box office, 203-438-5795 or go online at ridgefieldplayhouse.org. The Ridgefield Playhouse is a non-profit performing arts center located at 80 East Ridge, parallel to Main Street, Ridgefield, CT.
