Trombone Shorty Plays Wednesday at the Square

YLC’s Wednesday at the Square really outdid themselves with the one-two punch of Westbank Mike and Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue. Lafayette Square was already packed when we arrived and Irene Sage was playing tambourine with the Westbank Mike boys. Even trumpeter Ian Smith joined in for the bluesy funky songs. For those not in the know, the “Westbank” is the part of New Orleans on the other side of the Mississippi, lead singer and guitarist Mike Doussan’s home.

The lines were longer than usual but we got Pulled Pork over Roasted Corn Cheese Grits ($6) from Squeal and Greens and Cornbread ($5) from Ms. Linda’s Ya Ka Mein. Not only were there members of the 610 Stompers dance troupe manning the Squeal booth, 3 Stompers took the stage and gave us a 3 song display of their “ordinary men, extraordinary moves.”

I’m crunched for time to explain what an amazing show Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue put on, but it’s just as well as I’ve blogged about them since first being blown away by their talent in 2010 (to see past posts, click here). At Jazz Fest, I was a few jam-packed football fields from the stage, but at the Square, things remain more intimate and the crowd is almost entirely local.

Though we see this band often, there were a few surprises. For one, they covered Marvin Gaye’s Let’s Get it On. Then legendary Allen Toussaint came out to endorse the band and wave hello looking sharp as a tack in his suit and tie.

Then Troy “Trombone Shorty” Andrews’ cousins Travis “Trumpet Black” Hill and Glen David Andrews, one of the most powerful showman in the city, joined the group and whipped the crowd into a dance frenzy. What a treat! Doubly so because it was a reuniting of the “5 O’Clock Band.” As children in the Treme, cousins Troy, Glen David and Travis would play second line everyday after school. As Glen David Andrews described in a recent interview with me, the kids would bang on cardboard boxes and even wear a tire over their shoulder as a “tuba.”

As if all of that weren’t enough, the entire band and their guests surrounded Joey Peebles and his drum kit and played one of the most spectacular drum solos I’ve ever heard.

As they had at Jazz Fest, Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue closed the show with  Do to Me. We all “got low” then went “crazy” then sang our “Ba ba da da da’s.” Troy Andrews said in a biographical short film, “My horn is my passport.” He’s right and it has taken him to the White House and all over the world. The band leaves next week for months on the road again and I suppose we will have to share them with the world more and more.

As we headed out, termites swarmed the streetlights like something Biblical. As a few people in the crowd freaked out, I was reminded that New Orleans isn’t for everyone – but for those of us meant to be here, it holds yummy food, unparalleled music (often for free) and Wednesday afternoons spent with friends in a park. Next week, the series closes out with Irvin Mayfield & the Jazz Playhouse Revue with special guest Kermit Ruffins. I can hear the dueling trumpets now. The New Orleans Jazz Institute’s Saturday Music School will open.

Westbank Mike

Mike Doussan

Irene Sage

Jimmy Carpenter, Ian Smith, Mark Levron

Westbank Mike plays

Mike Doussan jams

Jimmy Carpenter and Mark Levron

Mike Doussan plays

Love Irene Sage’s expression

pulled pork over grits

greens and cornbread

610 Stompers!

610 Stompers extraordinary moves

jump!

Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue

Mike Ballard and Trombone Shorty

Pete Murano plays

Joey Peebles

Trombone Shorty sings

Dan Oestreicher

Tim McFatter plays

Mike Ballard

Trombone Shorty

Pete Murano smiles!

Tim McFatter and Dan Oestreicher

Joey Peebles jams

Mike Ballard plays

Pete Murano playing

perched

Wednesday costumes

Joey Peebles and Trombone Shorty

Pete Murano jams

the band

shredding

Trombone Shorty plays

Joey Peebles drums

lovin’ it

Orleans Avenue plays

Joey Peebles and Mike Ballard

the band plays on

Pete Murano and Trombone Shorty

Ballard, McFatter and Oestreicher

playing to the crowd

Pete Murano on guitar

horns play

Allen Toussaint

Trombone Shorty riles the crowd

“Hurricane Season”

Glen David Andrews

horns

love Shorty’s expression

trumpet plays

Glen David Andrews plays

trumpet killin’ it

Glen David Andrews killin’ it

into it

crowd loving it

group drum solo begins

group drum solo

group drum solo crescendo

Trombone Shorty encore

Michael “Bass” Ballard

horns in the air

with Glen David Andrews