Stage Talk with Rick Koster
Where every show has something to say.
Meteorologists in southeastern Connecticut were caught by surprise last week when a massive stormfront called Hurricane Shorty blew through New London. Some 1,400 giddy citizens took refuge in the historic Garde Arts Center — a facility more than capable of withstanding and even enhancing a Force 5 assault of New Orleans funk/jazz.
Yes, Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue, straight from the Crescent City’s fertile Faubourg Tremé — one of the country’s oldest Black neighborhoods and the birthplace of jazz — threw down a 90-minute show that left the crowd giddily exhausted.
Shorty, aka Troy Andrews, 39, is actually tall and has the physique of an Olympic sprinter. He’s not only a virtuoso trombonist and trumpeter but also one of the most charismatic front-persons in contemporary music. In performance, Shorty is never NOT in motion — strutting, dancing, singing, orchestrating and cheerleading. From the moment he hit the Garde stage and the band blasted into “Buckjump,” they utilized clever segues and medleys to ensure the entire set was a nonstop succession of fasten-your-seatbelt, funk-happy carnival rides.
This required the lockjaw-tight efforts of Orleans Avenue, a unit that included two guitarists, bass, drums, tenor and baritone saxes and a vocalist — each of whom was equally adept at ensemble groove as well as during generous solo opportunities.
Andrews’s own songs — including “Hurricane Season,” “Where It At” and “Lifted” — demonstrated a visionary step forward in the genetic tradition of the Neville Brothers, the Meters, Walter “Wolfman” Washington and his beloved hometown brass bands. These tunes fit seamlessly in the sonic processional alongside clever arrangements of material by Allen Toussaint, Ernie K-Doe, James Brown, Parliament/Funkadelic, “When the Saints Go Marching In” and more.
Longtime fans anticipated two show highlights. One happened in mid-song when Shorty sustained — and sustained and SUSTAINED — a single note beyond the belief-capacity of the entire pulmonology faculty at Yale Med School. Yes, he utilized a circular breathing technique mastered by certain jazz horn players, but that doesn’t lessen the Oh My God! effect of his effort while his propulsive band continued to percolate and heighten the tension behind him.
Another exclamation point happened when Shorty and his horn section left the stage and embarked on a Second-Line march through the aisles and balcony. The energy level in the venue neared a combustible level — and stayed that way till the end. Magnificent!
A note about the evening’s support act, Southern Avenue. Fortified by a Delta-esque blues/rock power trio, three superb female vocalists utilized neo-gospel melodies and harmonies to scrape the underpinnings of heaven.
