Review: Trombone Shorty at Crossroads KC

A multi-generational audience of over 300 danced, laughed, smoked and drank at Crossroads KC on Father's Day. Could it really have been a jazz concert? Yes and no.

Trombone Shorty improvised on both trombone and trumpet as he led a five-piece group. Much of his performance featured brass band music straight out of New Orleans' Treme neighborhood.

But Trombone Shorty, aka Troy Andrews, is a 24-year-old also conversant in hip hop, funk, rock and pop. In addition to his melodic original compositions, his band performed covers of the Black Eyed Peas' "Let's Get It Started," Allen Toussaint's "On Your Way Down," Marvin Gaye's "Let's Get It On" and the Isley Brothers' "Shout."

I'd like the band even more if they lost their rock-oriented guitarist, but Trombone Shorty's good-time music is impossible to resist. In terms familiar to Plastic Sax readers, Trombone Shorty mixed Diverse's youthful energy with the wild abandon local listeners associate with Hearts of Darkness.

Good times.

(Original image by Plastic Sax.)