Culture + Style

6 Ways to Do New Orleans Like Trombone Shorty


Since Trombone Shorty is such a fixture of the New Orleans jazz scene (it’s even in his band’s name: Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue) we thought there’s no one better to provide a local’s view of what to do in the Big Easy.

Naturally, the musician, whose real name is Troy Andrews, gravitates toward the city’s music scene.

“After I get off the road and I’m coming back home, I have to go the French Quarter,” says Andrews, who has performed at events like the Grammy Awards, Musicares, the Voodoo Festival, and alongside Macklemore & Ryand Lewis, Madonna, Queen Latifah, Janelle Monae, Dave Grohl and the Foo Fighters, Mark Ronson, Mystikal, and for President Obama at the White House.

He’s also recorded the theme for CBS’ hit comedy “The Odd Couple,” and voiced a character on 20th Century Fox’s “The Peanuts Movie.”

For music, he recommends venues like Tipitina’s and the Blue Nile “to check out whatever live music that’s playing there that night.”

His other hometown hit lists include ordering up crispy fried chicken from Willie Mae’s in Tremé, the neighborhood where he grew up.

Andrews also loves shopping on Magazine Street, and looking at the Mississippi River on the Moonwalk, in the French Quarter.

But at the end of the day, it always comes back to music—any time of day.

“Music is very important to the culture of New Orelans,” Andrews says. “Music is the heartbeat. It’s that powerful. Any time you hear any type of New Orleans music anywhere it might be, people just start to dance. We celebrate life here. We want to bring joy here and that’s how we play and approach the stage.”