Jazz Artist Trombone Shorty’s ‘Backatown’ World Tour

GRAMMY-NOMINATED TROMBONE SHORTY ADDS FIFTH CONTINENT TO BACKATOWN WORLD TOUR

Curates NOLA legends in two sold-out Red Hot + New Orleans events at the Brooklyn Academy of Music

LOS
ANGELES, Calif. — Just announced as a 2010 Grammy nominee in the Best
Contemporary Jazz Album category for his acclaimed Verve/Forecast debut
CD, Backatown, Troy “Trombone Shorty” Andrews, the 24-year-old New
Orleans singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist and all-around musical
powerhouse today announced newly added tour dates in Australia,
Singapore and New Zealand. The Australia dates represent the fifth
continent that Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue’s Backatown World
Tour will hit in the first year of release for the Grammy nominated CD.
Backatown features the band’s trademark “Supafunkrock” sound, an
explosive, homegrown blend of funk, rock, R&B and hip-hop that has
been exciting audiences worldwide.

This coming week the band
returns for headlining dates in Japan where they were a highlight of
this Summer’s Fuji Rock Festival, a tour that directly preceded the
band’s debut tour of South America. Coming up in 2011 is a January trip
to Jamaica, where Trombone Shorty will sit in with Warren Haynes and
Gov’t Mule. February brings a package tour of the U.S. with Latin Grammy
winners Los Amigos Invisibles, highlighted by dates at San Francisco’s
Fillmore Auditorium and a special Grammy-eve show at the Conga Room in
Los Angeles. That tour is followed directly by co-headline dates with
Galactic in Boston on February 25 and at Terminal 5 in New York on
February 26 (Galactic’s sax player, Ben Ellman, produced the Backatown
CD).

March sees another series of European dates prefacing an
even more extensive run of European festivals in the Summer of 2011.
Highlights of the April Australasia tour include a feature appearance at
the Timbre Rock and Roots Music Festival in Singapore and Australia’s
Byron Bay Bluesfest, where the band joins International headliners Bob
Dylan, B.B. King and Elvis Costello. Renowned festival favorites, the
band has a summer already brimming with offers from top festivals across
Europe and North America.

Last week, in conjunction with World
AIDS Day (December 1), Trombone Shorty curated Red Hot + New Orleans,
BAM’s third programmatic partnership with the Red Hot organization, the
premier music industry nonprofit dedicated to funding AIDS research and
awareness. Shorty conducted and performed in two sold-out concerts that
featured NOLA legends and fresh voices (Dr. John, Irma Thomas, Kermit
Ruffins, Mannie Fresh, Ivan Neville, Partners In Crime, Marc Broussard
and Ledesi) capped by a house-rocking, high-energy mini set from
Trombone Shorty and his own band, Orleans Avenue. The shows raised much
needed funds for New Orleans’ NO/AIDS Task Force while artistically they
were met with numerous standing ovations from two full houses and
unanimous press raves including from Jon Pareles of The New York Times:
“Trombone Shorty had clearly set out to present New Orleans as a city
whose glory days aren’t over . . . it was a signal that the city’s music
would push ahead.”

Trombone Shorty has also given approval for
his song “Hurricane Season” (from Backatown) to be used by (RED), the
ground-breaking AIDS fund-raising initiative. A gratis license has been
granted to (RED) so portions of the track can be featured as backing
music on new (RED) “Making Of” promotional videos. (Earlier this year,
“Hurricane Season” was heard weekly on MTV’s The Real World, New Orleans
as the opening title track.)

You can watch one of the new (RED) films at this link:
bit.ly/ShortyHurricaneSeasonRED />

2010
has been a breakout year for Trombone Shorty and his six-piece
world-touring band, Orleans Avenue. Backatown debuted at #1 on
Billboard’s Contemporary Jazz chart, holding the top spot for nine weeks
and still holding in the top five more than six months later. In the
first week of the CD’s release the band performed a triumphant set at
New Orleans’ Jazz Fest with special guest Mystikal, followed the next
month by a rousing return to Bonnaroo and a debut performance at the
Hollywood Bowl in the Playboy Jazz Festival. Other touring highlights
included a historic performance at the 53-year-old Monterey Jazz
Festival (topped by breaking the Festival’s all-time CD sales record),
followed the next month by a cross-Europe tour, highlighted by five
shows in the coveted opening slot for Jeff Beck in the U.K. In November
Shorty and Orleans Avenue supported Dave Matthews Band on tour. It seems
every month has brought new milestones for the group as their
reputation for exciting live performances spreads worldwide.