I’ve seen Trombone Shorty perform on his home turf—at New Orleans Jazz Fest—and I’ve seen him on stages outside of the Crescent City, and all of those shows had unbridled showmanship and enthusiasm in common. The musician otherwise known as Troy Andrews can get a crowd on their feet and cutting a rug in no time flat. I once witnessed him take a crowd of end-of-weekend fest-goers, all tired, grumpy, and sunburned, and lift them up to reinvigorated heights with his high-octane fusion of NOLA-spiced jazz, blues, funk, and hip-hop grooves. Trombone Shorty’s lively personality serves his well-honed talents on trombone and trumpet well; there’s some traditional blowing and tooting, sure, but there’s also machine-gun bursts and blasts, velvety-voiced singing and crowd-amping in between, and a tight backing band chugging along with him, fleshing it all out and adding the oomph. His set lists include original material and covers songs by artists ranging from the Meters to Nirvana. by Leilani Polk