Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue, Emo’s, Austin, TX 6/15/14 (SHOW REVIEW & PHOTOS)

Troy “Trombone Shorty” Andrews is the living embodiment of New Orleans past and the present. Do enough research or simply chat with any old timer on the street in that city and you’ll quickly come to understand that it is a very different place than it once was. While most of what you hear involving places like New Orleans, Brooklyn, Austin, and just about everywhere else in America equates to an argument that gentrification and safer cities often leads to a loss of the very culture that made a place so special to begin with. Where Trombone Shorty comes in is as a cultural crusader and preservationist on a mission to keep the second line sound and jazz legacy of his hometown alive, and also share it with the world one show at a time. On the other hand, Shorty and his young band Orleans Avenue have cultivated a sound that, while incorporating the brassy elements of the second lines and funk they grew up with, is also distinctly modern and thoroughly rocking. In other words, those that may not be fans of New Orleans music or even aware of it can find something to enjoy in the sound of Trombone Shorty. As his show at Emo’s proved evidence of, this is exactly what Troy Andrews and company intend to do with every performance.

Though his studio albums hold up, Trombone Shorty is best experienced in the live setting. The diverse mix of people at his Austin show ranging from children to elderly and everyone in between was a testament to the power of this consummate performer. Regardless of age, nary a soul was able to hold back from shaking it to the band’s bombastic stage presence. Making their way through a setlist spanning their catalogue, the group gave the audience a rock show first and foremost. Songs like “Do to Me” and an instrumental take on Green Day’s “Brain Stew” captured the band’s love of more modern rock music, while tunes like “Backatown” and “Big 12” saw that funkier, Galactic-esque sound coming out. “Fire & Brimstone,” “Mrs. Orleans” and the panty-dropping “Something Beautiful” caught Shorty channeling his supreme, sultry R&B skills. “Buckjump,” the cheery “Hurricane Season,” and a rousing mashup of Professor Longhair’s classic tunes “Go to the Mardi Gras” and “Big Chief” paid contemporized homage to Shorty’s second line roots and the New Orleans music scene he was raised in. The members of the group even took part in a full band drum solo using one set of drums, resulting in one of those magical moments you could only witness from highly talented musicians.

You can’t always fight change, and sometimes change isn’t good, but what you can do is strike a balance between embracing the inevitable while fighting to keep culture and heritage alive. Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue make their own brand of New Orleans music that doesn’t immediately strike you as being of that place, which is a fact that has allowed the group to connect with wider audiences around the world. Those looking for a cross-section of rock, jazz, funk, R&B and even metal easily found satisfaction in the band’s Austin show. Trombone Shorty led his band with classy bravado, blowing his horn while strutting back and forth across the stage with the kind of natural charm and charisma you can only be born with. Even if you have never been to New Orleans, catching a Trombone Shorty performance leaves you with the feeling that this massively talented entertainer is doing his hometown justice.