Premiered on PBS
on October 7, 2004
Check your local listings
for rebroadcasts.

Troy 'Trombone Shorty' Andrews

Troy Andrews is a young trombone and trumpet player from New Orleans, Louisiana. He got the nickname 'Trombone Shorty' when he first started playing the trombone at three. Troy's principal music is jazz, though he also plays a range of other styles.

"If you close your eyes and listen to him, you think this guy is about seventy, eighty years old. He has such a beautiful sound, and all that is connected to his spirit and his heart," says his former teacher Clyde Kerr, Jr.

Troy's from New Orleans' historic Treme neighborhood, where music has always been a way of life. The neighborhood especially comes alive on most Sundays when the streets are filled with the joyful music and dancing of second line parades -parades that Troy calls 'walking parties.'

Troy also comes from a well-known musical family. His grandfather was Jesse Hill, the singer famous for the 1950s hit song 'Ooh Pooh Pah Doo.' His brother is the trumpet player James Andrews. Troy often performs with James both in the United States and abroad.

In addition to his brother James, Troy's mentors include the musicians Clyde Kerr, Jr., Wynton Marsalis and the late Anthony "Tuba Fats" Lacen.

Troy released his first solo recording called 'Swinging Gate' in 2002. The record is a mixture of jazz standards and some of Troy's original compositions. He continues to perform and record and will be soon attending college.

Anthony "Tuba Fats" Lacen, 1950–2004

Perhaps New Orleans most famous tuba player, Anthony "Tuba Fats" Lacen played traditional New Orleans jazz and blues with many of New Orleans' most renowned brass bands, including the Dirty Dozen Brass Band.

Lacen performed throughout the United States and abroad. Most days he could also be found playing in Jackson Square in New Orleans' French Quarter. "When I'm on the square playing, I can see the joy in peoples' hearts. New Orleans music is something that will never die," he said in an OffBeat Magazine interview.

Treme

Troy Andrews was born and raised in Treme, the historic African American neighborhood next to the French Quarter in New Orleans. It is considered by many to be the birthplace of jazz: Congo Square was located in Treme, and it was there that enslaved Africans would get together on Sundays to play music.

"That square is where all the slaves used to come on the weekend and play the drums and cook food and just exchange their traditions and history and things with everyone," says New Orleans Musician Clyde Kerr, Jr.

Today, many of New Orleans' most well known musicians come from the Treme area. "The whole Treme neighborhood is a brass band incubator" says New Orleans Journalist Geraldine Wycoff. "Treme is one of the spots (in New Orleans) where you can find music every day, all day," says horn player Troy Andrews.

Second Line Parades

Most Sundays, you can see celebratory second line parades weaving their way through the streets of New Orleans Treme neighborhood. They're called "second line" parades because the band and the people in the parade are considered the first line, and the dancers and revelers behind them, the second line. "You don’t watch a second line parade, you jump in and dance behind the band," says New Orleans music journalist Geraldine Wycoff.

Second lines originated at New Orleans funerals. On the way to the cemetery, a brass band would play slow and sorrowful songs while the mourners walked behind. On the way back home, in celebration of the deceased's life, the band would strike up joyful and high-spirited music and the mourners would dance behind the band. This tradition continues today.