Trombone Shorty - Backatown (14 tracks) +Album Reviews

Forget Your Preconceptions of Horn Rock

Sick Muse | salem, ma | 04/20/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I love this record. A strong rock album that encompasses multiple influences and stitches them together beautifully without being overly respectful of any one tradition. The nine instrumentals range from 21st-century New Orleans brass/hip-hop fills to soul jazz a la Grant Green and Jimmy Smith to straight up rock anthems, and the vocal tracks are just as varied, strong and catchy. Cohesive, flowing, with thought-through virtuoso playing and soloing throughout. 'Backatown' gets the party started..."

Another Great Performance by Shorty

Gregory R. Dawson | Tampa, FL | 04/23/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"If you have ever heard Trombone Shorty and Orleans Ave live then you will not be disappointed with this performance. This album opens up with a strong performance of "Hurricane Season" to lay the foundation. It eases back with "On your way down". You can hear Lenny Kravitz (background vocals and guitar) on "Something Beautiful". One of my favorite tracks is Suburbia it has a great feeling to it.

It is hard to pin Trombone Shorty to a genre, this is what makes it great. This album is a refreshing look at Funk/Jazz/Rock. You definitely hear the Jazz heritage coming through strong, but with some great fusion with rock and funk. By the way if he comes to your town go and see him, you will be very happy you did and you can thank me later

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A very exciting release!

Steven Davis | Charleston, WV | 04/28/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I really, really hope that this cat goes far in his career and that a lot of people get turned on to his music. I can't tell you how refreshing it is to hear this kind of music coming out right now!

I saw him about a month or so before this release at Mountain Stage in Charleston, WV. The whole room immediately came alive (which is really rare at Mountain Stage because it's a NPR radio show) and it was just incredible. I went straight home and searched for him all over the internet. Now the album is out on a national label and I just hope that it gets the recognition and appreciation it deserves.

The phrase "jack of all trades, master of none" definitely doesn't apply to this guy. He is certainly a jack of all trades, but he can actually master each of them. I just finished my fourth listen through this album and absolutely love it.

Shorty is very diverse but each track is anchored in the original, horn-heavy, and upbeat style of New Orleans jazz. Tracks like "Suburbia" sound like straight-up rock in the vein of Metallica or Pearl Jam but somehow his horns sound right at home among the electric guitar riffs and his use of brass provides a sound and a feel that would otherwise seem out of place in that kind of rock. Some of the tracks like "Something Beautiful" and "On Your Way Down" have beats behind them that are very reminiscent of old-school hip-hop and modern R&B. Some songs like "Quiet as Kept" sound like straight-up funk with Shorty weaving in and out seamlessly while "In the 6th" has a very Latin flavor. The title track, "Backatown" is very atmospheric and probably my favorite so far. "Neph" also shares that really atmospheric vibe and feels very clear and clean.

How he manages to integrate all these styles so flawlessly is just ridiculous. The real key to it all is Shorty's virtuoso talent alongside his ability to keep it all rooted in that original New Orleans style of jazz. Those same roots and virtuoso come through the most during the last track "928 Horn Jam" - a short song that is exactly what its name suggests.

Like I said, I really hope he goes far and that his talent really catches on. He's already been featured in USA Today and Entertainment Weekly and I hope that he continues to be recognized for what he's worth. He's also shared the stage with U2, Green Day, Lenny Kravitz, and several other big-name acts that will hopefully make him more accessible to the public. If there is one song that would most likely break him into the mainstream it would be "Right to Complain" because it has a very catchy chorus but it still doesn't sacrifice its integrity by being too poppy.

In short, it's an incredible, diverse album from an incredible musician who's mastered his instrument as well as any virtuoso who has made their way into the public in the last few decades.

Best wishes and much appreciation to Trombone Shorty!!"

Will soon be in the national consciousness

OffBeat Magazine | 07/10/2010

(4 out of 5 stars)

"It didn't take a genius to peg Troy "Trombone Shorty" Andrews as a national success waiting to happen. He's young, good-looking and a born entertainer, he was also making credible jazz records when he was barely out of puberty. His roots are in the Treme Brass Band circuit--which, if the HBO series Treme does its bit, will soon be in the national consciousness. But Andrews has already played to arenas, touring in Lenny Kravitz's band and playing in the U2/Green Day number at the 2006 Saints home opener. All someone had to do was make a capital-C crossover album--maybe with a brass-hop version of "St. James Infirmary" on it--and wait for the money to roll in.

Backatown is definitely not that album, nor is it necessarily the one you'd expect from his live shows, which ride heavily on extended party jams. It's a crossover set, but a creative one that doesn't play to the tourists alone. Galactic's Ben Ellman produces, and it's up the same general alley as Galactic's Ya-Ka-May, which placed loops, samples and bounce beats within the New Orleans R&B tradition. Backatown's title track is clearly a studio creation with its looped drums, echoed guitar and synths, and a horn line that sounds flown in from a different recording, capped by a brief but fiery trombone solo. It sounds lively and catchy instead of overloaded, like one of those lucky accidents when two houses leave their windows open and the results mesh.

The cut-and-paste approach also works for the disc's one familiar tune, Allen Toussaint's "On Your Way Down." There wasn't much need for another faithful version of the song (Elvis Costello and Little Feat both nailed it in different decades) and this one (with Toussaint's own piano at the heart of the mix) updates the groove and reworks the melody without losing the message, throwing some nifty "Shaft"- style flute into the bargain. Kravitz's influence is clear on the other vocal tracks: "Something Beautiful" is the kind of Stevie Wonder/EWF homage that made Kravitz's name, but sounds more like a hit than anything on his last two albums.

If there's a problem here, it's that Andrews and the band never stretch out. The longest of the 14 tracks on Backatown is 3:46--unheard-of brevity for nearly any modern album, much less a funk-based one. The power-chord driven "Suburbia" demands more than the three minutes it gets; "928 Horn Jam" has all the makings of a raucous old-school finale, but cuts off after 40 seconds. Maybe this is another nod to the Galactic audience, which figures that live tapes are for trading and that studio albums are the place to break ground.--OffBeat Magazine, May 2010 issue

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It's simple math

attentive listener | Joysey | 04/24/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Second line riddims + on the one funk + soulful vocals + crunching rock guitars = a fun little album from Trombone Shorty. Looking forward to checking this band out at Mountain Jam. Based upon the evidence here, they would seem to be a real party starter. I'd like to see Troy & Co. join in on the New Mastersounds late night set too, I would think they would find some solid common ground."

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