Trombone Shorty blows into Pensacola

Q: Why do you think New Orleans music resonates?

A: New Orleans music is a special thing. I think we have so many different types of music put into one gumbo pot that no matter where you’re from, whatever you listen to has been influenced in some way by New Orleans sounds. I just think it’s one of those things that I can’t explain, but it’s really cool to see. When we go to Europe and start playing some second-line music or some type of warm-up jam session, and we start playing some New Orleans-type music, people can’t keep still. They might not know where it’s coming from or what city we’re from at the moment, but when we start playing rhythms from New Orleans, people start to move. I don’t really know what that is, but it’s such a blessing to be from here and to represent what we do here. New Orleans is New Orleans, and I realize that New Orleans itself has a fan base. So I don’t know what it is about New Orleans. Maybe it’s the good-time attitude that we have, we want to have a good time and celebrate life and play music. I think that people can connect to that.

Q: Do you feel like there’s been an increased spotlight since Katrina?

A: I don’t know. I’ve been working so long on my career and other people have been working so long. I think the spotlight has been put on the city of New Orleans, and my music being the heartbeat of New Orleans, it’s definitely had some type of increase on the music scene. Katrina just put New Orleans as a whole in the spotlight.

Q: Certainly, you music can at least partly classified as jazz, but you have such a large audience beyond what would typically be considered jazz fans. Why do you think you’ve been able to break out beyond the jazz world?

A: You get the real jazz heads, and they don’t think we’re jazz at all. We get some jazz people who are like, “This is not jazz,” and I’m like, “You’re right. It’s not.”

If we had to be anything connected with jazz, I’d have to say we’re “New Orleans jazz,” because New Orleans never forgot that jazz music was dance music. When you come down here to see Kermit Ruffins and the Barbecue Swingers play somewhere, he’s playing jazz music, but there’s no seats when he’s playing.

(I grew) up in the city of New Orleans being exposed to that kind of music. And being 26, I’m also very influenced by hip hop music, and I’m very influenced by rock and pop music, and I listed to that a bit more than anything else. I was able to learn and play rock-funk with Lenny Kravitz for many years, and I’ve been a big fan of his.

So I think just being able to be in a city where traditional jazz was created, and also being a young man interested in other styles of music, it allowed me to play off of what I’m listening to, to incorporate what I grew up doing.

To me, it’s like going into different neighborhoods. If I was to move, let’s say, to Pensacola, and I was there for years, whatever is the strong music there, I’m pretty sure I would pick up on it and in some way it would incorporate itself with my New Orleans roots. I’ve always been able to listen to different styles and I’ve been put in situations to work with different styles of music and different genres. I worked with Mannie Fresh, the founding producer of Cash Money Records. I’ve done some bluegrass music. I’ve been put into rock situations. I’ve always loved all these types of music. So I’ve always been able to go into these communities and take something from there and bring it back to what I do in New Orleans.

Plus, I’m highly interested in all those styles of music and I think it comes out naturally. I’m interested in hip hop music, I listen to it a lot. I listen to rock music, I listen to Nine Inch Nails, to AC/DC, and I used to play my horn over that while I was in school. I was supposed to be practicing jazz music or whatever I was supposed to be practicing for class, but I had my headphones and I was jamming over Aerosmith by myself. I almost got kicked out.

Me, musically, I look at it like it’s a part of life and it’s my life, so I wanted to be able to go through different musical styles as if I was taking a journey through life, and that’s the way I approach it. I’m just trying to go through different styles of music and learn something from it. So if I ever get a call to play with one of those bands, country music or whatever it may be, at least I know a little bit about it instead of going up there not knowing anything and trying to force something.

Q: What have been some of your favorite experiences working with other artists?

A: One of my favorite experiences has been playing with Lenny Kravitz. He’s one of my biggest influences and biggest idols and mentors in my life. I was trying to figure out how to get the funk-rock thing going, and he’s the king of that. Just being able to work with him – and I joined his band when I was 18 years old – just being able to watch him do what he does every night helped change and give me a better outlook on what I’m trying to do with my music.

Every experience is great. I just finished touring with Zac Brown Band, and that’s a country audience, and I learned so much from that. I think being put into those different genres of music and working with different people and sitting back and soaking it all in, all of them have been great, great experiences, because you’re able to hear that through my style.

Q: Are you at all surprised to find yourself meeting so much success at such a relatively young age?

A: I’m surprised at everything. I started so young, at 4 years old, playing music that I didn’t know anything besides music. Just to play the horn, that’s it, that’s all I knew. I didn’t know anything about becoming a star or famous or rich or success, I just knew how to play music, and that’s always stuck with me.

So for me to even be on stage and playing in front of people is still surprising to me, because I just want to play. To have people really dig what we’re doing, and to go around and we’re selling out shows and stuff, I can’t believe it. I talk to my band, and I’m like, “Can you believe this? There’s 2,000 people out there waiting for us. Is that for us? What do you think is going on?”

It’s just an unbelievable situation, and I’m very, very blessed and honored to be in this position. Hopefully, out of all of this, I can impact some younger horn players that can continue to take it further than where I’m going. I’m just opening up the doors for there to be more horn players.