“Shorty possesses the rarest combination of talent, technical capability and down-home soul.  I’m his biggest fan.” Wynton Marsalis

With the release of For True, the follow up to his Grammy®-nominated 2010 debut, Troy “Trombone Shorty” Andrews is set to cement his reputation as one of the most explosive and exciting new artists to emerge from New Orleans in recent years. A phenomenally talented composer and multi-instrumentalist, Andrews uses For True to demonstrate his solid command of funk, hip-hop, jazz and rock and an ability to seamlessly blend these elements together.

Andrews hails from the Tremé neighborhood in New Orleans’ 6th Ward, getting his nickname at four years old when he was marching in a street parade wielding a trombone twice as long as he was high.  Starting early, learning how to play drums and what he remembers as “the world’s smallest trumpet” at the age of three, by the time Andrews reached six he was playing trumpet and trombone in a jazz band led by his older brother James.  Not long afterward, Andrews formed his own band with some other musically inclined kids from Tremé, with dreams of following in the footsteps of the New Orleans tradition.

For True offers substantive proof of this band’s development which has seen them refine the signature sound Andrews has dubbed “supafunkrock”.  “We never sat down and really thought about concepts and what we wanted our music to sound like,” says Andrews.  “It’s just that, over the years, we allowed each one of the band members to bring their influences and taste in music into our music.  If I spend a lot of time somewhere else, I’ll bring that back to New Orleans and show the band, and then we’ll just put it all in one pot.  It’s just our sound, and it happened naturally.”

Helping bring the album together are some first-rate guests that Andrews has met along the road. Lenny Kravitz plays bass on Roses and he calls Andrews “a genius player – he’s got nothing but personality, he plays his ass off and he’s a beautiful human being.” He’s also joined by Kid Rock, whose vocal is featured on Mrs. Orleans, guitarist Warren Haynes (on Encore), and singer Ledisi, who features on Then There Was You.  His relationship with Jeff Beck (check out his blistering solo on Do To Me) has blossomed since the guitar legend came to Troy’s late night post-Jazz Fest show at Tipitina’s in 2010, and Beck has been more than vocal in his appreciation of Andrews’ talents.  “I was completely blown away,” says the guitar legend.  “The crowd went wild.  A sensational group of musicians.  Trombone Shorty is one to watch.”

“There was excitement from everywhere,” says Andrews (who’s now 25) of the band’s recent experiences on the road and how they fed into the creation of For True.  “We did over 200 shows in the last year and a half, and every night we allowed the music to take us over.  The whole band was getting better on their instruments.  We were at a different level, which made us excited to get back in the studio and see what we can do.  Musically and creatively, we wanted to shoot for some different things.”

Trombone Shorty will be performing at Eric’s in Liverpool on September 23^rd and at the Jazz Cafe in London on September 24^th