FreeFest: Trombone Shorty brings the jazz, the funk, the soul, the kitchen sink

Trombone Shorty blew fire from his trombone, but the crowd blew its chance to really cut loose. (Kyle Gustafson/FTWP)

By Chris Richards

How good is Troy "Trombone Shorty" Andrews? Soloing over the burly stomp of a song called "Hurricane Season," the young New Orleans jazzman sounded as if he had captured an epileptic bumblebee in the space between his lips and the mouthpiece of his trumpet.

Fans were quick to throw their hands up and applaud these horn-blowing heroics, but strangely, they kept their feet planted on the grassy slope of FreeFest's West Stage.

Maybe they were just overwhelmed by this dude's copious gifts? Andrews and his bandmates, Orleans Avenue, spent nearly an hour effortlessly leap-frogging among nimble jazz, classic New Orleans brass, viscous funk, silky soul -- they even puffed their chests out for a take on Lil Wayne's "Lollipop."

But audience members didn't move their leaden feet until Andrews and company fled the stage and ventured out into the field for a grand finale march. As the musicians paraded up the hill bleating righteously, fans swarmed around them, flashing camera phones, big smiles and the dance moves they should have been putting to use all along.