feature photo: Mathieu Bitton
When trombonist/singer/composer/bandleader Troy “Trombone Shorty” Andrews decided it was time to follow up on 2017’s Parking Lot Symphony, he didn’t mess with his successful formula of augmenting his New Orleans roots with rock, funk and soul. But he did seek to amp up the live spirit of his music. His way of achieving that for his fifth album Lifted is really straightforward: “…this time around, I told everybody to really cut loose, to perform like they were onstage at a festival,” recounted Shorty.
That couldn’t have been too hard because music from Trombone Shorty’s band is always fun, timeless and handmade, but there’s undeniably more liveliness to these sides on Lifted that insists you engage with the music not just with your ears but with your feet, fingers and other body parts.
Like a great Cajun cook, Shorty throws in plenty of spicy ingredients and make it blend together just right. “Come Back” has those huge horn punches, a little power wah-wah fuzz guitar and soul-oozing harmony vocals. All soothed down just a tad by an organ.
And above all, it’s funky; funky as funky used to be in its 1960s-’70s golden era. It hardly gets any funkier than on “Lie To Me” but toss in a marching band array of brass and the “whoa now” chant and it’s got all the right ingredients for starting a street party.
The Led Zeppelin-ish guitar that launches “Lifted” sounds like the beginning of a hit Lenny Kravitz tune but Trombone Shorty always puts his own vintage soul spin on it and then it’s only him that can toss in a trombone solo that makes you forget that a guitar solo goes there.
Shorty slows it down just a tad to a toe-tapping mid-tempo for the breezy “Forgiveness,” where Nola RnB meets Philly soul. “Might Not Make It Home” lifts the beat from the Gap Band’s “You Dropped The Bomb On Me” and slathers it with muscular horn charts and ardent vocals.
Guy Clark, Jr. and his guitar make “I’m Standing Here” the hardest rockin’ song in this gaggle, and for “What It Takes,” Shorty shares lead vocals with Lauren Daigle, a contemporary Christian music star from nearby in southwest Louisiana who brings heaping helping of gospel fervor.
With Trombone Shorty, the flavor of New Orleans is never far away in his music and sometimes the flavor is strong: “Everybody In The World” has the New Breed Brass Band augmenting Shorty’s usual trombone and trumpet with a deluge of more horns. And “Miss Beautiful” brings that reliable second line to contemporary music with pleasing results.
You think Lifted will end with a whimper? Oh hell no. “Good Company” is just as dance ready as the front-loaded tunes.
The cover of Lifted is a picture of Troy Andrews as a small child held up by his mother at a local parade. Just as Mrs. Andrews lifted up her son, that son lifts up people with feel-good music rooted in the 20th century but is the perfect tonic for the 21st century.
Your party record for 2022 and beyond has arrived. Lifted is now available from Blue Note Records.
