Episode 1326 - Trombone Shorty
Marc:Lock the gates!
Marc:All right, let's do this.
Marc:How are you?
Marc:What the fuckers?
Marc:What the fuck buddies?
Marc:What the fuck next?
Marc:What's happening?
Marc:I'm Mark Maron.
Marc:This is my podcast.
Marc:I'm broadcasting from a room.
Marc:I'm not at home.
Marc:I'm not in my garage.
Marc:I'm out in the world.
Marc:I'm out in the Midwest.
Marc:Am I in the Midwest?
Marc:Is Madison, Wisconsin, the Midwest?
Marc:Is that the definition of Midwest?
Marc:I believe so.
Marc:How's it going with you?
Marc:Let me promote this podcast, if I may.
Marc:Today...
Marc:I'm going to talk to Trombone Shorty.
Marc:All right.
Marc:His name is Troy Andrews.
Marc:But as you can tell by the stage name, he's a master trombone player and also plays trumpet, drums, organ, tuba.
Marc:He's been playing in concert at Jazz Fest in New Orleans since he was like four years old.
Marc:And he started touring with Lenny Kravitz right out of high school.
Marc:He's been on The Simpsons and Sesame Street and is one of the highest profile ambassadors of New Orleans music.
Marc:And he's got a new album out called Lifted.
Marc:And it's very good.
Marc:It was weird listening to it because I remember it kind of struck a note in me, a chord in me, the horn chord.
Marc:It really is sort of a rock record, but I remember when I was a kid, there were big horn rock bands.
Marc:Chicago, Ohio Players, Average White Band, Tower of Power.
Marc:There were big horn bands.
Marc:Yeah, they were R&B to a degree or maybe soul, but it definitely crossed over into rock.
Marc:But it reminded me of that.
Marc:I had not heard in recent days the horn section on what's basically, it's a mix of stuff, but it's rock.
Marc:Rock horns, baby.
Marc:But yeah, I got to talk to Troy about that music, that source, the well, the eternal well of music that is...
Marc:New Orleans.
Marc:It was exciting.
Marc:It was a lot of stuff I didn't know.
Marc:So that's going to happen.
Marc:That's going to happen for you shortly.
Marc:Tonight, I'm in Milwaukee at the Turner Hall Ballroom.
Marc:Tomorrow, I'm in Chicago at the Vic Theater.
Marc:And Saturday, I'm in Minneapolis at the Pantages.
Marc:Also, another thing, I'm most likely postponing, trying to postpone or shift my Dynasty typewriter dates because I've been offered a role, you know, a part on Reservation Dogs, which is a show that I think is brilliant and exciting.
Marc:And I'm thrilled to be part of it.
Marc:I don't generally ever cancel stuff.
Marc:But fortunately, it was a hometown series of gigs that can be, you can see me in LA almost any time.
Marc:But I will try to reschedule those for you.
Marc:In a couple of weeks, I'll be in Pittsburgh at the Carnegie of Homestead on May 12th.
Marc:Cleveland, Ohio at the Mimi Ohio Theater on May 13th.
Marc:Royal Oak, Michigan at the Music Theater, May 14th.
Marc:Washington, DC at the Kennedy Center on May 20th.
Marc:Red Bank, New Jersey at the Count Basie Center on May 21st.
Marc:and Philly at the Keswick Theater on May 22nd.
Marc:There's some more dates coming in the future, but those seem to be enough.
Marc:You can go to wtfpod.com slash tour for ticket links and other info.
Marc:All right?
Marc:Is that all good?
Marc:Is everything all right?
Marc:Now, if I could just stop worrying for a few minutes.
Marc:I landed in Chicago.
Marc:Not a great drive, Chicago to Madison.
Marc:Nothing that appealing about it.
Marc:But I am happy to be here.
Marc:Had lunch with my buddy Ben Sidren, the jazz pianist and jazz author.
Marc:We talked about the stuff.
Marc:He's a bit older than me.
Marc:Talked about mortality.
Marc:We talked about horn players.
Marc:We talked about...
Marc:Steve Miller, who he was in a band with in college, he corrected some things.
Marc:Corrected is a nice word.
Marc:I would say that it just it came up kind of organically.
Marc:But he was like, yeah, that Steve Miller interview.
Marc:I'm like, yeah, he's like, yeah, maybe I'd tell you a couple of things.
Marc:So that was nice.
Marc:You know, it's nice just to know that.
Marc:resentment springs eternal you know if someone fucks you you're going to remember it that's that's that's one thing i've learned from myself and talking to other people no matter how much peace of mind you have or no matter how much you've let go if somebody screws you a certain way uh it'll stick and it'll stick there for the lifetime
Marc:And it's not always right up front, but you don't have to dig too deep for it.
Marc:People who have been divorced know about this.
Marc:People have been fucked over financially.
Marc:Yeah, as my dad's mind sort of disintegrates, I guarantee you the last thing to go is going to be some version of fuck that guy.
Marc:I have to wonder how many people's last words are like, you remember that dude that did that thing?
Marc:Fuck him.
Marc:Resentment springs eternal depending on what the injury is.
Marc:Trauma, I think, if it happens young enough, you'll mold your whole personality around trauma.
Marc:But when someone fucks you, it's right there.
Marc:It's like those weird flames that just never go out.
Marc:You see in the night at whatever those factories are.
Marc:Why is that fire still on?
Marc:He's mad at somebody, and it's never going to go away.
Marc:Because they're never going to pay and there's nothing you can do about it.
Marc:But just watch it.
Marc:Just watch it.
Marc:You can turn it up or you can turn it down.
Marc:But the flame is eternal.
Marc:Fuck that guy.
Marc:I got one of those, maybe two of them, I think.
Marc:Actually, it's more, there's nothing I can do about it.
Marc:Here's the other problem I have.
Marc:I've just stopped the, and this has happened before.
Marc:This is just some element of anxiety.
Marc:I don't know if you have it.
Marc:And I'm driving, man.
Marc:I'm driving down the highway, so I have time for this.
Marc:I have time to think about it.
Marc:I'd like to think I'm reworking stuff, and I'm going way back.
Marc:I'm almost doing some version of mobile EMDR on myself.
Marc:Where since I have time, I've got the highway spread out in front of me.
Marc:I got the car and I've always thought that driving is meditative because you can.
Marc:What's interesting about is you some part of you stays grounded as you sort of go off into the life of, you know, I guess it's really not meditating because it's something it's processing.
Marc:You can process in the car.
Marc:If you turn the car off, some part of you has to drive the car so you're connected.
Marc:And there's something about that.
Marc:It's almost something like the EMDR thing in my mind.
Marc:Because with the EMDR treatment, you have these buzzers that kind of get you into a different place.
Marc:So they can go into some part of your mind.
Marc:The motor part of your mind gets sort of distracted with the buzzers.
Marc:But I think that the car serves that purpose, and I'm just making this up.
Marc:So I'm going over past points in my life that I thought were horrendously embarrassing, painful, or terribly traumatic.
Marc:That's sort of how I spend my time sometimes in the car, working through that stuff, and then kind of following the thought process and trying to figure out whether or not I still have sort of unprocessed feelings about those things.
Marc:And that's how I spend time in the car.
Marc:And then whatever time that I'm not doing that, I kind of listen to music or I worry about things that haven't happened.
Marc:So it's great.
Marc:The car is just great to be like, all right, what am I going to do today?
Marc:How about listen to some talking heads, process some very painful stuff from childhood, and then think about one of my cats dying while I'm not home.
Marc:Great.
Marc:What a fun ride.
Marc:And then maybe we'll get some coffee so we can really sort of turn the heat up on that process.
Marc:Fuck me, Jesus Christ.
Marc:But I like it, man.
Marc:Once I get out, once I converge on the point.
Marc:And I'm happy to say that I'm a little lighter and my heart is a little lighter because on the road from Chicago to Madison, I processed a nice chunk of childhood trauma with my mobile version of EMDR.
Marc:locked into the engagement with the car, I was free my mind to sort of stop and start the process of making connections and feelings and getting myself into the place of the trauma, moving through it with the help of knowing that I'm grounded by driving the car and then sort of like feeling the feels.
Marc:And yeah, and then I got here and I had lunch.
Marc:It was a lot of processing.
Marc:I worked up a nice appetite, had some sweet potato hash with a couple poached eggs and a biscuit and ate some of Ben's potatoes as we talked about the weight of consciousness.
Marc:Good morning.
Marc:I don't know when you're listening to this, but why don't we talk to Trombone Shorty?
Marc:His new album, Lifted, is available tomorrow, April 29th, wherever you get your music.
Marc:And those horns will lift you.
Marc:Jesus Christ.
Marc:I should listen to it now.
Marc:Jazz helps, man.
Marc:Music helps.
Marc:It seriously helps.
Marc:I don't know why, but I've listened to Talking Heads Fear of Music almost daily for weeks.
Marc:What is it about that record?
Marc:It's speaking of something of the time.
Marc:Give it a listen.
Marc:There's something relevant to it.
Marc:Outside of life during wartime, which is the time.
Marc:I don't know.
Marc:I just can't stop.
Marc:I know it's a great record, but out of nowhere, that's the one that I'm spinning constantly.
Marc:Anyways, Trombone Shorty.
Marc:Brilliant musician.
Marc:Brilliant musician.
Marc:I mean, horns, man.
Marc:That horns.
Marc:That's where it's at.
Marc:That'll lift you up.
Marc:And this is me talking to him back in the garage.
Marc:It's great to meet you, man.
Marc:Great to meet you, too, Mark.
Marc:It's interesting, because do people call you Troy?
Guest:Yeah, Troy, Shorty, Trumbone.
Guest:Shorty?
Guest:Some guy by my dad, I would just say, hey, Mr. Trump.
Guest:I was like, Mr. what?
Marc:Mr. Trump?
Marc:Trump, yeah.
Marc:It's weird, because...
Marc:When you were brought to my attention, I'd heard of you, but I didn't know the music specifically.
Marc:And then I thought, like a trombone guy, well, I want to talk to a trombone guy.
Marc:Right, right, right.
Marc:Because I listen to jazz, right?
Guest:Right, right.
Marc:And I just had this weird breakthrough.
Marc:And this is usually how it works with me before I talk to somebody.
Marc:Because I listen to a lot of bop.
Marc:I listen to hard bop.
Marc:I'm no scholar.
Marc:But I pick up what I can.
Marc:I have a lot of records.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And I started realizing after listening to your stuff and listening to specifically people who are honest to New Orleans jazz.
Marc:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Marc:That what evolved out of that, which is everything.
Marc:Everything, that's right.
Marc:But New Orleans jazz as a form is inclusive.
Marc:Inclusive, that's right.
Marc:Right.
Marc:But once you get to bop, it's sort of like, what are they trying to do?
Marc:Get rid of me?
Marc:That's right.
Marc:That's it.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Because when you really think about jazz as a culture in the 50s, what it became, you know, in New York and L.A.
Marc:or whatever with with that crew of bop guys, you know, you really had to be in the in crowd or have a mindset to take that stuff in.
Marc:Yeah, you had to do that.
Marc:Right.
Marc:But with what you do and what you come from, it's like everybody's welcome is clear from the first note from the first note.
Guest:That's right.
Guest:It's a New Orleans.
Guest:We never forgot that music is dance music.
Guest:You know, it's a celebratory thing to us.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Like you say, it's everything.
Guest:Right.
Guest:We play when I went to school in New Orleans, a New Orleans Center for Creative Arts.
Guest:They were teaching us the bop stuff and all that, but I didn't learn anything about New Orleans music there.
Guest:But me coming from the neighborhood that I came from to where we got drums and tubas and beer bottles and stop signs or whatever we can jam on, it was very difficult for me to see when we started to play this other music in school.
Guest:that no one were reacting.
Guest:I was born into people dancing.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Well, that's an interesting thing because you did go, you had to kind of backload that stuff, right?
Marc:That wasn't what you were listening to.
Marc:No, no.
Marc:You were listening to everything that you were coming up from.
Marc:I want to go, I want to talk about the early stuff.
Marc:I do want to say before, you know, I listened to the new record.
Marc:I listened to all the records, but I mean, am I wrong in thinking that, you know, this is the one where it really came together for you?
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:I try to do that for every one of them, but I think we went in the studio with the mindset of let's play like we're on the stage, but let's make sure it's tight.
Marc:Right.
Marc:Because I felt that the vision of the record and the consistency of it and the amount that you put the trombone forward.
Marc:I mean, you do because that's what you do.
Marc:But in this one, you're like, it's time for my lead.
Guest:Yeah, absolutely.
Guest:I was thinking more of how Lenny Kravitz would take a rock solo.
Guest:That's where my mind was.
Guest:Because you could feel that.
Marc:Like in the other records, you're blending a lot of stuff.
Marc:There's a lot of different kind of styles going on.
Marc:But in this one, there's a consistency.
Marc:There you go, yeah.
Marc:Right, to the way you laid the record out.
Marc:And then there's definitely a point where, because you wonder about that with a trombone in general.
Marc:It feels like a support instrument.
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:That's what it is most of the time.
Guest:But in New Orleans, it still is a support instrument because you have someone like most trumpet players have a sidekick trombone player.
Marc:Right, okay, yeah.
Guest:Louis Armstrong.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:He had a guy?
Guest:Yeah, he had a guy.
Guest:Who was his guy?
Guest:They had Tyreek Glenn.
Guest:He did some stuff with a guy, Trummy Young.
Guest:There's a bunch of trombone players, but normally...
Guest:Out of that whole thing, the trombone is the sideman.
Guest:So it's almost like it keeps the bass almost.
Guest:It tailgates around and just play around the melody that the trumpet players sing.
Guest:Right, so the trumpet's like... And you're like... Yeah, you just tap dancing right around it and hitting at the melody every once in a while.
Marc:So when you... Tell me about that...
Marc:Because, again, I'm an appreciator of music, but I'm limited in what I know.
Marc:What I know about New Orleans music.
Marc:I know Zydeco a bit.
Marc:I know Dr. John.
Marc:I know The Meters.
Marc:I know Alan Toussaint.
Marc:Neville Brothers.
Marc:Neville Brothers a bit.
Marc:And I know the people.
Marc:Professor Longhair.
Marc:Oh, yeah.
Marc:You're deep now.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:That stuff's great.
Marc:But I don't know about the history of the neighborhood of Treme and what it means to grow up there.
Marc:I mean, I can see it on TV or I can get a sense, but I have to assume that that community, it feels like not only is it tight as a community spiritually and just as a neighborhood, but that the music was everywhere all the time.
Marc:Absolutely.
Guest:That's true.
Guest:That's very true.
Guest:I grew up there.
Guest:And I remember being a kid walking to elementary school.
Guest:I went to school in the French Quarter, which there's one block that separates the French Quarter and the Treme.
Guest:That's Rampart Street.
Guest:So the French Quarter is only about three or four blocks from the Treme where I lived.
Guest:And I remember going to...
Guest:walking to school and there would be a funeral, second line jazz procession.
Marc:That's what it's called?
Marc:Yeah, yeah.
Marc:Second line?
Guest:Second line, yeah, yeah.
Guest:Where people are dancing in the streets and we sing about it.
Guest:And I'll be going there and I'll see that.
Guest:And then when I'm coming back home, there's someone celebrating their birthday.
Guest:Right.
Guest:And they're in the backyard playing.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And then my family, we had a rebirth brass band and the Dirty Dozen.
Marc:Rebirth?
Guest:Rebirth brass band.
Guest:I remember the Dirty Dozen brass band.
Guest:Dirty Dozen.
Guest:So they come after Dirty Dozen.
Guest:And they were very influenced by them.
Guest:And it was always music.
Guest:And so my band, my cousins and family members, we'll get home, do our homework, and then we'll start practicing and bothering the older musicians.
Marc:What was that?
Marc:So, like, it was just an assumed thing that you were going to be a musician?
Marc:I mean, you know, like, it was just that's what happens?
Guest:I mean, most people...
Guest:There's a lot of musical family, so I never had a choice, but I think when I was born, they gave me some drumsticks or something like that.
Marc:So how far back does the music go in your family?
Marc:I know there's popular acts that I don't know, but who are they?
Marc:What's your legacy?
Guest:Well, it all started with my grandfather, who's Jesse Hill.
Guest:And he made a song back in the 60s, Oop-Oop-A-Doo.
Guest:And it was a big song back in those days.
Marc:When you could write a song and call it that?
Guest:Yeah, call it that.
Guest:And I guess it was a big song during those times.
Guest:I think Tina Turner covered it.
Guest:A few other people covered it.
Guest:But that was before me, of course.
Guest:Did you know him?
Guest:Yeah, I knew him, but he was much older by the time.
Guest:He wasn't really active by the time I was starting to go.
Guest:But he would come over to rehearsal and try to tell us some things when we were trying to get it together.
Guest:So that was a pop song?
Guest:That was a pop song.
Marc:It was a big song.
Marc:Right.
Marc:By the time he's going at it, they're taking it.
Marc:That's the interesting thing about New Orleans and that whole world is that all American music, most of it, comes from there.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And if it doesn't, it eventually mixes with that.
Marc:That's right.
Marc:And it mixes with country, becomes something.
Marc:That's right.
Guest:That's right.
Marc:So at that point, he must have been pretty close to the source and just figured out how to make the groove into a pop song.
Marc:Like Fats Domino.
Guest:Like Fats Domino, yeah.
Guest:So my grandmother's brother was Walter Nelson.
Guest:He was Fats Domino guitarist.
Guest:Oh, really?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:But that was before my time.
Marc:I know, but did you grow up with the records?
Guest:I grew up with the records.
Guest:Yeah, still today, I still listen to them.
Guest:And they always say, oh, you got to listen to this particular song and this and that.
Guest:And so the music lives in the whole family.
Guest:And we grew up on Ray Charles.
Guest:My grandmother loved that.
Guest:And Fats Domino.
Guest:Of course, Dr. John was like an uncle to me.
Marc:You knew him?
Guest:I knew him very well.
Guest:I grew up underneath him.
Guest:And he would come over by my grandmother's house and hang out.
Guest:eat gumbo and red beans, and I would play with him on the road, do some things.
Guest:Yeah, he was like a real family member to us.
Guest:John McRavenay.
Marc:McRavenay, yep, McRavenay.
Marc:Yeah, because he was another guy where I kind of got, I sort of locked in, and I got all the old records.
Marc:I had...
Marc:Dr. John's Gumbo, which is a relatively hard record to find, which is weird, because it's a later record, and it's him covering a lot of stuff.
Marc:Like, he does Ico Ico, he does, I think, Tipitina.
Marc:Tipitina and Big Chief.
Marc:Yeah, and it's a great record.
Marc:But those old ones...
Marc:where he's sort of like taking it out there, right?
Marc:With Night Tripper and the first three records.
Marc:I can't remember the names of them.
Marc:Because you listen to it, and he's fusing that time, drugs, the 60s, whatever trip he's on, and he's like elevating that New Orleans thing into a psychedelic shit show.
Yeah.
Marc:That's right.
Marc:That's a good way to put it.
Marc:But it is still fundamentally New Orleans music, right?
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:You hear the dirt underneath it.
Guest:You got the big dirt and the street sounds and everything.
Marc:You do that on the new record a lot.
Guest:There's always guys talking.
Marc:You make sure that every song, it's like, are we doing this?
Guest:Yeah, that's right.
Guest:That's just what we do.
Guest:That's a part of it?
Guest:That's a part of it.
Guest:Because if you think about the second line culture, where I'm from, where I grew up in,
Guest:There's thousands of people around you speaking.
Guest:The band is in the middle, but everybody's dancing and having conversations about where they're going next or what song they want to hear the band play.
Guest:And we just hear a lot of chatter while we're playing in the streets.
Guest:I wanted to capture some of that on this record and get that atmosphere going.
Marc:And what does second line mean exactly?
Marc:Where does that come from?
Guest:Well, at first it comes from the funeral procession.
Guest:Right.
Guest:And then.
Guest:Oh, the sad one.
Guest:Yeah, the sad one.
Guest:Okay.
Guest:There'll be the band and the coffin.
Guest:And then the second line is normally people that join in from the neighborhood.
Marc:Oh, okay.
Marc:I see.
Marc:I see.
Marc:Okay.
Marc:Because the first time I saw a New Orleans funeral procession was in a James Bond movie.
Marc:Right.
Marc:Oh, yeah, yeah.
Marc:Like, I think it was Diamonds and Forever.
Marc:I can't remember which one it was.
Marc:I saw that.
Guest:Remember, they killed a guy in the street, and then they blow the coffin on you, and they pulled him up, and then... I think that was either the Olympia Brass Band that was in that one.
Marc:Oh, really?
Guest:I think so.
Marc:I think it was... Was it Diamonds are Forever?
Marc:It was a Roger Moore...
Marc:James Bond and it had to do, and I know like there was a lot of like, you know, kind of probably slightly racist voodoo stuff in there.
Guest:That happens too.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:But, but I, I, I, that's the first time I, I, I put together that there was this culture that, that was celebratory.
Marc:Celebratory.
Marc:Well, I mean, even in, in, in, I think in some of the language that you've been quoted in talking about your mother's passing, which I'm sorry.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:uh you said she a transition right is that it's a transition she gone and uh to a better place but we all it's always a celebratory transition in new orleans like it's very of course people will cry in new orleans but right then we turn it around really quickly yeah so you we might start with a dirge right and you'll see everybody falling out because that that's emotional and then the drum kick off
Guest:and now it's a big celebratory second line thing.
Guest:Sending them off.
Guest:We're sending them off, yeah.
Guest:That's what we do, and we got a part where we, uh, doing a procession, the carriage with the coffin in it will separate.
Guest:half of the band, some of them on this side, some of them on the left, some of them on the right.
Guest:And we call that cutting them loose.
Guest:That's when you sin and that's the final thing.
Guest:But the second line is dealing with the funeral, but it's a different thing.
Guest:So we have the social aid and pleasure clubs that parade every Sunday.
Guest:And that's a different thing.
Guest:That's not a sad thing.
Guest:It's just New Orleans culture.
Marc:But your first memories of it are around funerals, I guess.
Guest:uh both of them right uh most of it happened in my house and in my backyard with my brother james andrews and his band what's he play he plays the trumpet yeah yeah he comes you can play trumpet too right yeah i play trumpet too on my show yeah yeah yeah both of them uh trombone and trumpet but so that it happened in my house and then i think i got introduced to the funeral just going out there playing outside of him
Marc:I guess the connection I'm trying to make is that it just seems like this is the way emotions are expressed, relieved or entertained.
Marc:The language of music is directly related to life in a very immediate sense.
Guest:absolutely it's very spiritual yeah you know when you go into trim air in new orleans and you see uh people you we can be having a second line parade down the street and you'll see somebody come out of their house they were just fixing supper or something and they'll come out banging on the top of their pot and just start the dance and leave the house and forget yeah and just join in that's how emotional it is and that's real life that's real life that's every day
Marc:I think I saw that in a movie, but you're telling me that's real life.
Marc:That's real life.
Marc:That's what I see, and that's what I was a part of.
Marc:It's a community thing.
Marc:You're not putting on a show for anybody.
Guest:No, we're not putting on a show.
Guest:Some people may hire the band to play for their birthday party.
Guest:Sure, but generally speaking.
Guest:No, it's just for the community, and we go out there and we play.
Guest:If some cameras are there, cool.
Guest:If not, we still do what we do.
Marc:Right, right.
Marc:But it's not a tourist attraction.
Marc:No, no, no.
Marc:This is pre-existed all that.
Guest:That's right.
Guest:Pre-existed all that.
Guest:We do it every day.
Marc:I kind of feel like, you know, like after a certain point, like you think of the French Quarter and you think, I've only been there a few times, you know, and I got the powdered donut and the coffee.
Marc:The beignet, yeah.
Guest:You're making me hungry now.
Marc:But there is an intrinsic tourist culture to that city at this point, right?
Marc:But it seems like when I was there, nothing's going to turn out New Orleans.
Marc:There's plenty of tourists there, but you're still sort of like...
Marc:We're just visiting.
Marc:Right, right, right.
Marc:And you don't feel like the city's putting on a show.
Marc:That city has got some vibe to it where you're like, if you stay there too long, you're just going to be absorbed by it.
Marc:That's what happens, too.
Marc:I know.
Guest:I see people.
Guest:Yeah, they come down, and they end up moving there for some reason.
Guest:It's magical.
Guest:It is magical.
Guest:I always tell the people, go hang out in the French Quarter.
Guest:Get that out the way.
Guest:Even though it's a tourist attraction, it's still real.
Guest:Right.
Marc:we just there so i said go hang out in the french quarter and call me after that then we'll get into the other stuff because like i know that there's a balance there too to that energy that there is a magic to it but there is a darkness to it there's a weight to that place absolutely i can't i don't know what it is but you know yeah i imagine that you know growing up there and dealing with music that you're pushing back some dark spirits that that exists there because i'm sensitive to that shit oh yeah well you know it you're sensitive to it sensitive to it and you
Guest:a feeling yeah i don't know what it is do you i don't know i think it's you know what i'm talking about i know what you mean yeah you know the spirits are very much alive there yeah it's something maybe it's because they keep all the dead people up over the ground yeah yeah necropolis they call it necropolis yeah they're just there they're they're not you know you know sometimes i'll be with some people and we'll go by the uh cemetery yeah and uh
Guest:they'll naturally start to be quiet as if we're going to disturb the dead.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:It's a weird feeling, but it's incredible.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:All right, so you're a kid, and you got all this around you, and obviously you're a gifted guy.
Marc:I mean, you're the guy.
Marc:You're the new trombone guy.
Marc:You're carrying the horn for everybody now.
Marc:But...
Marc:How does that reveal itself?
Marc:I mean, because there's footage and pictures and recordings of you with that trombone, and you're like a little kid.
Marc:Yeah, yeah, four years old.
Marc:And it's bigger than you are, and you're just laying it out.
Marc:Why that instrument?
Marc:And when did you realize, or whoever realized around you that this guy's special with this thing?
Guest:Well this goes back to my, I was telling you about having a sidekick.
Guest:So my brother's a trumpet player.
Guest:So I guess in the house we didn't need any more trumpet players.
Guest:So they put a trombone there and I stuck with it.
Guest:Did they just give it to you?
Guest:Who gives it to you?
Guest:It's either my mom or my brother, but it was around the house.
Guest:So because they are my cousins and my brother playing music, the instruments will stay at my house and it would be like my playpen.
Guest:I would crawl inside tubas and drums and stuff.
Guest:But I think once my brother took over and wanted me to play music and stay on his side, the trombone was the thing that he kept me with.
Guest:uh-huh and i i think that's just his influence of the city trumpet players are always the the kings you know yeah leading the band so he put me on the trombone right and maybe he needed a trombone player in the band at that time well it sounds like i mean that's the traditional place for the trombone right right right on side the trumpet player and how's uh does he have a recording career your brother yes yes he has a few records out uh
Guest:What style is he?
Guest:Actually, some of his best music he did to me is with Alan Toussaint produced it.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:So he has a record called Satchmo of the Ghetto that he did back in the 90s.
Marc:Toussaint, that's how you say it?
Marc:Alan Toussaint.
Guest:Not Toussaint.
Guest:No, no, Toussaint.
Guest:Toussaint.
Guest:Yep.
Guest:And it's featuring, actually on that record, he has Alan Toussaint playing piano and Dr. John on the organ.
Guest:Oh, wow.
Guest:The whole record.
Wow.
Guest:And what's your brother's name?
Guest:James Andrews.
Guest:Oh, man.
Guest:And he was a part of the Newt Burst Brass brand.
Guest:He's still around?
Guest:Yeah, he's still around.
Guest:Oh, all right.
Guest:Yeah, he's only like 52.
Guest:Uh-huh.
Guest:He's still around.
Guest:And he plays just all the time?
Guest:He plays in the city a lot, and he comes to jam with me whenever we can in the city.
Marc:It seems like the people that are in that community, like you just say your brother and then Alan Toussaint and Dr. John, they're like, all right, let's do it.
Marc:Right?
Guest:Is that easy?
Guest:It's that easy.
Guest:Let's do it.
Guest:Let's just go in the studio and let's record.
Marc:Right.
Marc:So you're with your brother.
Marc:You're five friends.
Marc:Four.
Marc:Four.
Marc:He's how much older than you?
Marc:I think maybe 16 years or something.
Marc:He's 16 years older than you?
Marc:I think so.
Marc:How old are you?
Marc:I'm 36.
Marc:Okay.
Marc:So he's a lot older than you.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:So you're playing trombone, and he's playing...
Marc:Yeah, trumpet.
Marc:And he's, you know, and he's like 20 when you're four.
Marc:Right, right, right.
Marc:So was there a novelty approach to it, too?
Marc:Like in the sense of sort of like, look at this kid.
Guest:Oh, no, because he didn't.
Guest:I was up there.
Guest:So, I mean, I don't think I could really play that well at that age.
Marc:Because, you know, like Derek Trucks.
Marc:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Marc:Like, he was one of those kids they put out there.
Marc:He's, like, 11, and he's, like, doing all the Dwayne Allen part.
Marc:But he had to reckon with the fact that, like, if he's going to stay in it, at a certain point, he's like, well, I can't be this, like, this novelty act.
Marc:Right, right.
Marc:This kid who's got this one trick.
Marc:Right, right.
Marc:So he had to figure out how to be a genius on his own.
Guest:He's incredible.
Guest:We did a few shows together.
Guest:Oh, did you?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:But my brother, so my brother allowed me and taught me on the spot.
Guest:Okay.
Guest:So...
Marc:So he knew trombone or he just knew horn?
Guest:He just knows the trumpet.
Guest:All right.
Guest:So I learned by ear first.
Guest:Right.
Guest:So he would play in my ear and I would play it back to him.
Guest:But as all of those years of that, I just kept getting stronger and stronger and better and gaining more knowledge.
Guest:Right.
Guest:Just from playing.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:So I didn't have a trick at first.
Guest:Right.
Guest:So it's just me trying to learn and play.
Guest:And then it just developed over time.
Guest:He couldn't tell me what to play on the trombone.
Guest:He could just play it for me on the trumpet and I would have to figure it out.
Marc:And you figured out how to do all this on your own?
Guest:Yeah, I figured out by standing next to him.
Marc:But there was no trombone player that just said, you got to do this with your hand?
Guest:I mean, they had a few of them that I stood next to and there's pictures of me looking up at him trying to figure it out.
Guest:But my arms were so small, I couldn't go all the way out.
Marc:extended on the on on the horn but so i stood next to a lot of great trombone players on the street and i i just listened to them do you have guys that you you like like i don't know a lot of my but i i was i think i've heard some jj johnson stuff i think he used to play with with bop guys right yeah a couple of bop guys right a couple of
Guest:People, yeah.
Guest:I listened to them when I was in school.
Guest:It hit me to them.
Marc:That's so funny.
Marc:It's like you spend your whole life playing music, and then you go to this school, and they're like, here are the guys that took what you're doing out in this way other direction.
Marc:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Marc:But who are the guys that you grew up liking?
Guest:trombone guy i like uh fred wesley okay you know who that is no what's he about he's the one that uh was behind a lot of james brown music with maceo parker okay yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah but he was like the first trombonist that uh was into putting it on funk music right okay yeah with that whole thing and that how old were you when he started getting hip to that when he knew those guys where you would listen to it where you're like i gotta learn some shit from this record
Guest:Well, I always heard James Brown in the house.
Guest:Right.
Guest:Because my family and everyone listened to it and loved his music.
Guest:But I wasn't listening to the horns at that moment.
Guest:I was just checking out James Brown and everything that the sound was coming.
Marc:That's a good point.
Marc:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:And so as I got older and my ears started to grow a bit more, I started to focus on that.
Guest:And then I met him and talked to him and we recorded and done some things together.
Guest:And he's a nice person.
Marc:Yeah?
Guest:Yeah, Fred Wesley.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Well, it's interesting because it seemed like, as I was thinking about talking to you, that there is a difference between what evolved out of... R&B horn sections were punctuation, right?
Marc:And then it somehow evolved into a more elaborate lyrical presence in music as it became more funky and more...
Marc:almost aggressive yeah you know that you know the there and i've forgotten you know after while i was listening to you i'm like i'm 58 i grew up with some of the something like this what is it and then you realize you know through the 70s there was like a bunch of really heavy horn bands yeah yeah right tower power earth wind and fire chicago chicago that's right ohio players ohio players
Marc:I mean, the history, the legacy that you're coming from in terms of bringing this stuff together, it's there.
Guest:Yeah, it's there.
Marc:Right, because I started to realize there's a familiarity to this.
Guest:Right, right.
Marc:Which is good.
Marc:Yeah, absolutely.
Marc:You haven't heard it in a while.
Marc:Right, right, absolutely.
Marc:I can't remember, listening to this record, it was reminiscent, but I can't remember the last time I heard a power horn band like that.
Guest:Well, that's true.
Guest:I didn't think about that, yeah.
Guest:Well, it's natural for me.
Guest:I always hear it, especially in New Orleans.
Marc:But to put it all together with that stuff, with the guitar.
Marc:Yeah, yeah.
Marc:But going back, when do people start taking notice?
Marc:How old were you when I watched that picture, that video you playing with Wynton?
Marc:When did he take notice of you?
Marc:How did it evolve that you became prominent?
Guest:You know, being in New Orleans, Wynton would come back and see us playing, and then he'll take us.
Guest:Where at?
Guest:All over the street or wherever we may be.
Marc:Wynton was just walking around the streets with his brother and his dad.
Guest:Well, I mean, it was always some type of musical thing that was going on, and he would be in town for that.
Marc:So he was like a big supporter.
Marc:Yeah, he's a supporter.
Marc:Of the community in general.
Marc:Of music, yeah.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:So when he finds you, what does he say to you?
Guest:Well, we were playing New Orleans jazz, New Orleans music.
Guest:How old were you?
Guest:I was probably around five or six that I met him.
Marc:What was the outfit you were with the band?
Marc:What band were you with?
Guest:I was probably with my brother's band.
Marc:And what were they called?
Guest:It was an all-star brass band.
Guest:And we were just playing street funk.
Guest:brass, but it's part of the New Orleans thing.
Guest:And so I've been knowing him since that time.
Guest:But we're a little bit more loose.
Marc:But he brought you out there.
Marc:Where was that done?
Marc:Where's that thing taking place?
Marc:That was somewhere in Europe.
Guest:I think it was probably in
Guest:Jazz of Ian and Franz.
Guest:Did he take you out there with him?
Guest:No, I was with my brother's band.
Guest:He knew that we were there, and he invited me to play the last song.
Guest:So when you said, how old were you then?
Guest:I don't know when that video was.
Guest:I was probably like 13 or 14.
Marc:So when that happens, by that time, you can riff, you can improvise.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I mean, we grew up improvising in New Orleans.
Guest:So and when I got to the NOCA school, it was very strange for me that people were playing other people's solo because that's not what we did in Treme.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Like when you hear people like my brother, Kermit Ruffins, you can they coming down the street five blocks away.
Guest:We can tell which band it was by the trumpet player sound.
Guest:Right.
Guest:Really?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Like if Rebirth was coming up the street, we knew the language that Kermit referenced was playing on top of all that.
Guest:And we could be like, oh, it's Rebirth.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And when they come up the street, that's exactly who it is.
Guest:So we learn to improvise first.
Marc:Because that's how you get your own thing, your own point of view, your own sound.
Guest:Yeah, you get your own sound and you're developing and speaking.
Guest:I speak with my New Orleans accent and you speak how you speak.
Guest:So that's how we think.
Marc:If I keep talking to you, I'll be speaking in the New Orleans accent by the end of the thing.
Marc:Yeah, I'll have you together.
Marc:I'm just one of those people.
Marc:Yeah, yeah, we'll get you together.
Marc:Well, that's interesting because that approach gives you a voice.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Because I always notice that in music in general that there are people that can copy other people brilliantly, but they're kind of lost when it comes to expressing themselves.
Guest:yeah they don't know who they are yeah it's all it's all stuff now don't get me wrong I like technique technique yeah technique right and you know but don't get me wrong I like to listen to a lot of music and once you listen to something like you just said you'll be speaking like all in the accent that happens to me in music like whatever I'm listening to without trying to copy it it'll be in my you'll absorb it absorb it yeah like a sponge and it'll naturally come out
Guest:some type of way, but I'm not copying anyone.
Guest:I just learned enough lyrics or it just touched me that much to where it's just coming out.
Marc:Well, also, you grew up at a time.
Marc:I mean, it wasn't like you were isolated.
Marc:I mean, you're getting all the music coming in from when you're growing up because this record, the new record, Lifted,
Marc:I mean, it's as much a rock record as it is anything else.
Marc:Absolutely.
Marc:And I have to assume that despite the roots and this sort of, because I think everyone has a perception, kind of like almost this romantic idea of that New Orleans music just stays the way it is forever.
Marc:You know, there's music going on all the time.
Marc:That's right, and we're influenced by everyone.
Marc:Right, and I think you pull it in on this record for sure.
Marc:I mean, you got Gary Clark on there, and you got your regular guitar player, I guess.
Guest:That's right, yeah.
Guest:And the beautiful thing about New Orleans is that we have this New Orleans music, and then we have sub-genres of New Orleans music.
Guest:So, I mean, we have New Orleans funk, which is the Neville Brothers and the Meters, and then you have New Orleans rock, which is like...
Guest:Cowboy Mouth and Better Than Ezra and different things.
Guest:Then we have the street brass.
Guest:And you have sub-genres of that.
Guest:You have traditional type of brass.
Guest:Then you have people that's more street funk, which is rebirth and 30 dozen.
Guest:Then you have like Preservation Hall.
Guest:So we all fit under this New Orleans umbrella, but we all speak a different language.
Guest:and it all comes together.
Guest:So even in the city, not musically speaking, we have people that's in certain neighborhoods that even when I go to visit my family, they have their own lingo, their own language that I don't understand.
Guest:What, the musical language?
Guest:No, no, just regular in general.
Guest:So some people are very influenced by their neighborhood.
Guest:And then we all meet up some type of way and we have this common thing underneath that's New Orleans.
Guest:But we all speak a little differently to where I go to my cousins in the ninth ward and they're saying something that I'm like, I don't know what y'all talking about.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And so they're influenced because they created that.
Guest:They all hear each other speak.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And some people stay in that neighborhood for 30 years.
Guest:Right.
Guest:And they don't go anywhere.
Guest:That's a little weird, right?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I mean, but that is weird.
Guest:But that's what happened.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And so we I go down there and I'm listening to them and they even play the tambourine differently.
Guest:Right.
Guest:You might have some people uptown that.
Guest:that play with their fingertips, and when you come downtown, they play with their knuckles and the Mardi Gras Indians.
Guest:It's just small little things like that that's big.
Marc:Right, it makes a big difference to the sound.
Marc:Yeah, to the sound.
Marc:I noticed that with washboard players.
Marc:Yeah, washboard players, that's right.
Guest:Where you're like, everyone's got their own style on that washboard.
Guest:That's right, everybody got their own style.
Guest:Some people play with spoons, some people have the gloves with the metal tips on them.
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:So it's different things, but it's all one city.
Guest:So at some point we influence one another.
Guest:So some things that I learned in the night while that I didn't know, I find a way naturally to bring that to the trim.
Marc:But you're not necessarily, but you're not necessarily conscious of it.
Marc:Right.
Marc:It's just an influence.
Marc:You just pick it up.
Marc:Just pick it up.
Marc:And then one day you're like, oh shit.
Marc:Right.
Marc:I'm doing that thing that I got.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:That's right.
Guest:So we'll reference this, like, oh, man, let's play this beat like when we're doing something.
Guest:Like, play it like a Hot 8 band.
Guest:They're from Uptown.
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:So they got a different, you know, once you come down there and you see it, you'll be able to tell.
Guest:And you're there for a while, you'll be like, oh, that's Uptown.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Hanging in.
Guest:I'm from downtown.
Guest:And you could see, like, if I show you some videos, you could be like, oh, they definitely, by people's second line, which is a dance in New Orleans, but it's all improvised.
Guest:Right.
Guest:You know, but it's all the second line.
Marc:But it's been going on long enough that there's style to it.
Guest:There's style to it.
Marc:Right, right.
Guest:So we could be like, oh, this guy's from uptown.
Guest:And then you could see how smooth the downtown was.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:And you could just tell by the way they approached their dancing.
Guest:Right.
Guest:Right.
Guest:And we're all five minutes away from each other.
Guest:That's wild.
Guest:But the influence of the neighborhood is so impactful.
Marc:Well, isn't that something to do with the... There isn't a representation with... Again, I don't know the history of the costumes, of Mardi Gras costumes, but isn't there a history of slight differences around those costumes that have been going on for generations?
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:Like the chiefs?
Guest:Yeah, the chiefs.
Guest:And the story, they always have a story that they're needling and threading on there.
Marc:Okay, yeah, yeah.
Guest:The Mardi Gras Indians are just...
Guest:It started as a tribute to Native Americans that helped slaves.
Guest:So this is the way that the black people in New Orleans paid tribute to that culture.
Guest:And then it became what it is today.
Guest:Right.
Guest:But, yeah, there's always difference.
Guest:Right.
Guest:They get in the street and do real battles.
Guest:Back in the day, it was very, very dangerous.
Guest:Really?
Guest:Yeah, they might not make it home.
Guest:But this was a celebration?
Guest:Well, this is Mardi Gras, but it is a celebration, but like you said, there's some darkness to it.
Guest:But it's a beautiful thing with that culture.
Guest:So you'll have people from downtown, the Mardi Gras tribes, and you'll have people from uptown, and they'll walk.
Guest:and they'll go down the street, and some type of way they meet up, and then there's a real battle.
Guest:That's interesting.
Guest:But there's Indian singing, and they're telling stories.
Guest:They might say something about this guy's suit is raggedy, and then other guys say something.
Guest:But back in the day, they have real hatchets come out, and people, you know.
Marc:That's an aggressive game of the dozens.
Marc:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Marc:But it's all right now.
Marc:It's all right now.
Marc:But I think the point I was trying to play at is that there is sort of a cultural tribalization around the music that's passed on through traditions in these communities.
Marc:And then even though it's five minutes away, it's like a whole different language of music, too.
Guest:Exactly.
Guest:That's what I was telling you.
Marc:Right.
Marc:And in this record, it seems like you can really feel that you're pulling in at least from...
Marc:you know from rock funk you know straight up uh new orleans jazz and and you know other play you know hip-hop r&b like it's all like i listen to all the records but this one i'm like i can see it all you can see it yeah and also i think it's great because you just step up the trombones lead in this thing whereas before you were i felt more like you were conducting
Marc:Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely.
Marc:Is that true?
Marc:Yeah, yeah, you got it.
Marc:Oh, good.
Marc:Yeah, yeah, you're on it.
Marc:So how do you evolve out of your brother's band?
Marc:Now, are you guys okay?
Marc:You and your brother?
Guest:I think we're okay.
Marc:He's not jealous?
Guest:No, no.
Guest:You know, he'll just come on stage.
Guest:I'll just hit his trumpet playing.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:Like uninvited sometimes, but his big brother, he'll come on stage and start playing.
Marc:Really at a gig?
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:I'll just look to the side and he's walking out and now we have to do like a little fake battle.
Guest:Oh, okay.
Guest:But no, he's good.
Guest:He's a wonderful person and I have to give him a lot of respect and love because without him, I don't think I would be here today.
Marc:Of course, yeah.
Marc:So who was the first major star that kind of used you, brought you on stage?
Guest:Well, to me, it was probably the Neville brothers, Aaron Neville.
Guest:And then from there, well, actually, when I was four, I was bought on stage by Bo Diddley.
Guest:Yeah?
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:That's it.
Guest:That's it.
Guest:When I was four, I was so small, I don't know what I was doing.
Guest:And then I played with a few different people.
Marc:Did you talk to Bo?
Yeah.
Guest:I don't know.
Marc:I don't remember.
Guest:I don't remember.
Guest:I was like four.
Guest:I think I was a little nervous or scared because they crowd surfed me to the stage.
Guest:I'm like this little kid and they're like... With the horn?
Guest:With the horn.
Guest:My mom like, hey.
Guest:And they put me on stage with him and there's a picture of that.
Guest:But when I was 18 or 19, I graduated high school and I joined Lenny Kravitz band for a few years.
Guest:Wow.
Marc:Now, when you talk about the education you were getting around jazz, when did that happen?
Marc:Was that in high school?
Guest:No.
Guest:So there was this educator, Kid Jordan.
Guest:He's an educator.
Guest:He's taught a lot of musicians.
Guest:So at the time that I was playing with my brother's band, Kid Jordan found me, and they had me in summer programs.
Guest:Okay.
Guest:My whole life.
Marc:When you were starting at like five or six?
Guest:Probably around eight or nine.
Guest:Okay.
Guest:During that time, I started to go to the programs with him and go to... He was teaching at Suno as a Southern University of New Orleans.
Guest:I would go to there every Thursday and play with like...
Guest:All ages.
Guest:Okay.
Guest:College students.
Guest:Right.
Guest:And so I was taking lessons with him.
Guest:And then there was a guy, Clyde Kerr and Kent Jordan, who taught me at the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts.
Guest:Those guys are the most prominent people in my education.
Marc:Interesting.
Marc:So you come up with all this sort of natural talent and street talent from family and watching.
Marc:Yep.
Marc:And then these guys are like, we got it.
Marc:Right.
Marc:This guy's got it.
Marc:Let's teach him what's up.
Guest:That's right.
Guest:So they wasn't concerned with me playing.
Guest:They wanted me to understand what I was doing to be able to speak the language and get in the books.
Marc:And read music?
Guest:And read music.
Marc:So that's where you learned all that?
Marc:All that with them, yeah.
Marc:And how did you take to that?
Marc:I mean, did you fight it or were you ready?
Marc:Because it seems like learning to read music when you know how to play music, be like, what do I got to do that for?
Yeah.
Guest:No, no, no.
Guest:I mean, I was so young that I was, and I'm always excited to learn new things.
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:So that's what kept me going.
Guest:Like, whenever I learned something and I was able to go back to the Treme neighborhood and play it in front of my friends, I'll use it in that type of setting.
Marc:Integrate it in.
Guest:Integrate it, and I was able to do it.
Guest:It made me even more excited.
Marc:I think you just, in a very kind of, I think, diplomatic way, defined showing off.
Right.
Marc:Well, to my friends.
Guest:So they will play because we all battle each other.
Guest:So whenever I learn something, that's how we got my cousins.
Marc:So that's how it goes.
Marc:You just you go at each other.
Guest:We go at each other all the time, you know, and try to out riff each other.
Guest:Try to out riff each other.
Guest:You know, some things that we play, like some of my cousin and I, like he played the trumpet.
Guest:He could play very high.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And then I got to a level to where I was able to play very high.
Guest:So we'd find ways to try to play melodies very high on a trumpet.
Guest:But we all in the same band, but we riff.
Guest:Like, you know, like basketball players.
Guest:If you go learn a new move or something, you want to go show it off.
Guest:So when I was learning stuff, because they didn't go to NOCA with me.
Guest:So they stayed in the street and natural.
Marc:So you came and showed them and you showed off, but you also gave them a gift.
Marc:That's it.
Guest:Whenever I learned something, I would go play it.
Guest:And while we're battling in the backyard or whatever, I would play it and be like, check this out.
Guest:And then I would break it down to them and show it to them and then they play something.
Guest:So that's why I was always excited to learn something because some of my friends didn't take the journey with me to go learn music.
Guest:So I was able to bring it back to them.
Guest:And make it understandable.
Guest:And make it understandable.
Guest:And now by the end of the, whenever they practice, all of us are getting better.
Guest:Right.
Guest:And I'm able to bring that knowledge that I'm getting over here to them.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:That's great.
Marc:But I like how it comes out in both teaching but also in battles.
Marc:Yeah, it's battles.
Marc:But healthy competition.
Guest:Yeah, healthy competition.
Guest:And we still do that.
Guest:If we go in the street, if I take you in the second line in New Orleans, there's a 10-piece band, another 10-piece band.
Guest:Even though we're all playing the same gig, there's division.
Guest:So we have the first division and the second division.
Guest:And the second division is normally the most popular headlining band.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And at the end, maybe... So there's this thing.
Guest:So we parade for four hours.
Guest:I don't do it anymore.
Guest:It's been a long time.
Guest:So we parade for four hours, and there's like these 10-minute breaks where people get food and stuff.
Guest:But what'll happen when the band's supposed to take a break, we take that moment to line up,
Guest:and face off yeah and so you got thousands of people that's with you and thousands of people with the other band and we we going at it sometimes at the same time how many members in the band it could be from eight to ten twelve people how does that break down a brass band like that classic one so we got probably two trombone okay maybe three trumpets at most no more than three yeah a sax player and you got
Guest:snare drum, bass, sousaphone, we call it a tuba.
Guest:But now they're starting to have two tubas on each side to get more power.
Guest:But we'll face off.
Guest:It's so fun, and we all friends, so after that we'll be like, yeah.
Guest:y'all got us on that first so that's where that tuba that's funny so that's where that tuba comes from it kind of like because i mean you know the roots got a tuba yeah yeah yeah yeah and that's a new orleans that's a new orleans thing we put a tuba on anything you know you see a washboard player he got a tuba player you know
Marc:I wonder where does that come from?
Marc:The Germans brought those things over, I think.
Guest:Yeah, yeah, the European instruments.
Marc:Right, because all those horns and the accordion and stuff, it's so funny because when the Germans came, I don't know how they came or why they came, but I know it was in Texas and it must have been in New Orleans, but what the Mexicans did with it versus what the people in New Orleans did with what the black people did was totally different things.
Marc:Totally different things.
Marc:Because for some reason, the Mexicans gravitated to the polka.
Marc:But in New Orleans, it became something else.
Marc:I don't know how that happened.
Marc:It must have been more primitive melodies.
Marc:Right.
Marc:right right yeah that vibe right there yeah that's it that's what we were feeling right and that's where the swing comes from well the mexicans yeah that type of thing wow but it's all that's regional that's what i was sure that goes back that's it it goes back to that uh the neighborhood yeah yeah for sure and and how it integrates with whatever the the dominant music is that's right
Marc:That's right.
Marc:All right, so you do all this.
Marc:You learn about this stuff.
Marc:Now, do you feel proficient?
Marc:I guess because it seems like the traditional horn or the traditional New Orleans horn band thing, it's got a one, four, five trip, right?
Marc:It's a blues trip.
Marc:Right, right.
Marc:It's a blues.
Marc:Yeah, mostly, right?
Marc:With a couple added kind of ragtime-y kind of...
Guest:I don't know what you call it.
Guest:Well, it's not.
Guest:I mean, it's in there, but that's very old now.
Guest:Right.
Guest:Now the music is influenced by modern hip hop and R&B.
Guest:So there's a lot more changes to that.
Guest:But that type of thing.
Marc:uh it's what we hear in the french quarter right more touristy right that type of a one four five thing but that's sort of on the on the basis of that rock one that one what's that one that uh that power rock one on the record that's almost got like a whipping post riff to it i stand in here yeah you know that like that's a straight up rock blues trip yeah yeah and uh uh and that's uh you used uh gary yeah gary yeah i've talked to him he's wonderful
Marc:yeah yeah an incredible person and an amazing musician sweet guy right sweet guy he's a good guitar player yeah uh but where's i going with this so oh i know so like when you you're learning about this other kind of jazz now can you can you hold your own in a bop outfit i can go up there yeah yeah i mean that's what they taught me at the school yeah and what's the primary difference
Guest:I mean, you know, like in New Orleans, like we were saying, you hear more Louis Armstrong is more dancing.
Guest:Sure.
Guest:It's more for the people.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And then when you go to play the other stuff, you're really playing for the next musician next to you.
Guest:And they're barely listening.
Guest:Right.
Guest:Well, they're listening, but the crowd might not be listening.
Marc:But it's just so funny when you see those guys, the horn players in the bop outfits.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Because, like, you know, like if Short is going into sax, you know, Miles is just smoking a cigarette.
Marc:You know what I mean?
Marc:Like, it's like...
Marc:Just waiting.
Marc:Yeah, yeah.
Marc:There's no trying to perform.
Marc:No one's dancing.
Guest:We're just going to wait.
Guest:We're just waiting for you to finish your expression.
Guest:Exactly.
Guest:But I learned that's what they taught us at that school.
Guest:A lot of people went to the school.
Guest:Harry Connick, Brian from the Marcellus family.
Guest:Actually, Ellis Marcellus, may he rest in peace.
Guest:He taught there before my time.
Guest:Terrence Blanchett, John Baptiste.
Guest:Everybody goes through that, and they teach us that.
Guest:So we can get up there and do that if that's what we want.
Guest:But when I was there, I didn't... Coming from where I come from, I was excited to learn the language.
Guest:But you didn't feel it.
Guest:I didn't feel it, but I learned it because I'm always a student and I love learning.
Guest:So if we had to do that, we can get up there and do it.
Marc:So when you go out with Lenny, how does that happen?
Marc:And what do you... Is that where... I mean, how does he decide to use a trombone?
Guest:Well, you know, he comes from that 70s thing that we were talking about with 25.
Marc:Okay, so that's where it goes.
Marc:Okay, yeah, right.
Guest:He had horn players before me.
Guest:Okay.
Guest:I think I may have been the first trombone player in this band, but he always had a sax and a trumpet.
Guest:Right, okay.
Guest:But by me playing boat, he was like, oh, we got it.
Marc:I'm trying to remember the songs with the horns.
Guest:Yeah, we got Mama Said.
Marc:Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Marc:Okay, that makes sense.
Guest:It ain't over till it's over.
Marc:Right, right.
Guest:So he does that, but also on the songs that don't have it, he allowed us to make some arrangements and make our own parts on it.
Guest:But during that time with him, I knew that I would continue to be a musician, but I didn't know.
Guest:I was already discovering rock and playing with people in New Orleans that was playing that type of music.
Guest:But while I was at Nuka, I was listening to Cash Money Records and No Limit Records and Nine Inch Nails.
Uh-huh.
Guest:Red Hot Chili Peppers.
Marc:So I was always interested in that.
Marc:So you were trying to figure out how, like, I guess the real question becomes, it's like,
Marc:If I don't want the life of a side man, you know, what am I going to do?
Guest:Well, I was really trying to copy off of my brother who was a front man.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:But he who is a front man.
Guest:But I wanted to because I had so many other influences of what I was hearing and what I was a part of.
Guest:I just need to figure out a way to to put it together in this gumbo.
Marc:Right, but you decide to sing at some point.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I mean, because you can sing and you do sing.
Guest:I couldn't sing at first.
Guest:My band and my brother and a great legendary New Orleans musician, Deacon John, he was like, man, you should sing.
Guest:And I'm like, I don't...
Guest:At one point, I was even afraid to even introduce the band on stage.
Guest:So I learned over time, and I got more serious about it.
Guest:But at first, I was a little too nervous.
Guest:But they told me, look, if you do this, you can reach many more people.
Marc:Well, that's interesting about singing, because I performed last night.
Marc:I'm a comic, and I've always played guitar.
Marc:But I was always afraid of singing.
Marc:Because it's embarrassing and vulnerable and weird.
Marc:It is.
Marc:It is.
Guest:It's a strange thing.
Guest:I'm telling you, early on, I just would point to the band members and say, thank you.
Guest:I was just so nervous.
Guest:But I see my brother do it all the time.
Guest:And I was like, well, if I want to be like that, I better start doing it.
Guest:And then, of course, Dr. John, he has his own personality.
Guest:I was like, well, I can do that.
Guest:Sure.
Marc:He's no virtuoso singer.
Marc:But he got his thing.
Guest:And that made me more comfortable listening.
Guest:I'm like, that's cool that he had.
Guest:When you hear that.
Guest:You know it's him.
Guest:You know it's him.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:So he was hanging around your family all the time?
Guest:Yeah, way before I was even born.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:He was a part of the family.
Guest:That's wild, man.
Yeah.
Marc:Because he's such a character.
Guest:He is, yeah.
Marc:And, you know, it must have been nice to know him as the dude.
Marc:It is.
Guest:He lived a long time, too.
Guest:He did.
Guest:He would call me on the road and check up on me.
Marc:How you doing?
Guest:How do you talk?
Guest:Yeah, man, how you feel?
Guest:Yeah, man.
Guest:We were in the studio, and he was like, look, I got to go, but put a little trick knowledge on there for me.
Guest:He always had some sayings that sometimes I didn't catch it until five minutes later, but it was always wonderful to be around him.
Guest:I've been so blessed to be able to come up under a lot of legends that's not here with us and learn.
Guest:One-on-one.
Guest:One-on-one.
Marc:Like some of the other ones.
Guest:Of course, Alan Toussaint.
Marc:He just passed not too long ago, right?
Guest:Yeah, he passed not too long ago.
Guest:There's a...
Guest:the neville brothers yeah i grew up playing with them since i was like 13 years old so i've been able to be influence uh so like i was telling going from noka yeah i had another parallel experience of playing with these guys right like active mentorship active mentorship learning on the spot being on the road with them and also uh so that the goal i mean
Guest:I guess the challenge there was to keep the natural ability and the connectivity to the people and also learn is other technical ability.
Guest:Right.
Guest:Because I had some friends that went into the school with me.
Guest:They had so much fire.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:By the time we finished, they were technically proficient.
Guest:Right.
Guest:but they didn't have no soul anymore.
Guest:They lost it?
Guest:They lost it.
Guest:It became too technical.
Guest:Technique?
Guest:Yeah, too technical, too book wide.
Guest:And I was like, wow.
Guest:But I'm glad I was able to keep that.
Guest:I think I kept it.
Marc:No, it seems like you have a sort of commitment and a growing vision of what you're doing.
Marc:But it's open.
Guest:It's open, yeah.
Marc:And also, I think it seems that you have leadership qualities.
Marc:I think that in the sense that maybe the same thing that made you nervous about singing or whatnot made you very aware of what was going on with all the instruments.
Marc:Yeah, absolutely.
Marc:Because you have to be a band leader at some point if you're going to put that stuff together.
Marc:Yeah, absolutely.
Marc:If you're doing the arrangements, you've got to be like, this is how this goes.
Guest:Well, you know, and you have to be a student, too.
Guest:So I had to do a lot of studying with different people and watching people.
Guest:So when I do go back with my band, because I had at seven, eight years old, I had my neighbors across the street, Sammy and Wayne, we put together this brass band out.
Guest:As I told you, we were trying to imitate the people in the neighborhood to re-burden my brother.
Guest:And I took them across, not being able to technically speak to them at that age, but I taught them how to play the bass drum and snare drum of what I was hearing in the family.
Guest:And from that time, they started to grow on their own.
Guest:And then I was always the person in the group
Guest:So we had a bass drum and snare drum, then me on the trombone.
Guest:But then we didn't have a trumpet player.
Guest:Then the guy down the street could play the trombone.
Guest:So I would play the trumpet.
Guest:And then we finally got a trumpet player, but we didn't have a tuba player.
Guest:Then I switched to tuba.
Guest:And so I played all the instruments in the group.
Guest:And it was a beautiful thing.
Guest:Now that I'm thinking about it, I didn't realize that we were really developing and doing some things together.
Guest:But I wasn't able to speak, but I can teach them the way my brother taught me at that age.
Marc:Right.
Marc:And out of necessity, you were able to kind of, you know, take on all the instruments.
Marc:So it gave you a very nuanced understanding of what to expect from those instruments.
Guest:Absolutely.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Huh.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:So like you can play any kind of horn that's got that that mouthpiece on it, I guess.
Guest:Yeah, I think so.
Guest:I haven't tried a French horn yet, but I had one.
Marc:How could you not have just tried it?
Guest:I had one when I was younger, when I was learning, but I'm about to order a bunch of horns and just play around with them.
Guest:Oh, really?
Marc:Just to have them around?
Marc:Just to have them around.
Marc:Now, are there different types of trombones?
Marc:I notice there's a couple of different types of trombones.
Guest:Yeah, you got a standard trombone, alto trombone, which is a little smaller.
Guest:You got an F attachment, which you see in classical music a lot.
Guest:What is that?
Guest:It's an F attachment.
Guest:You ever see where the guys have, like, a lot of pipes?
Guest:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Guest:What is that?
Guest:So that's, like, they use that in classical because you can... So we can get certain notes.
Guest:You can just hit it.
Guest:So if I'm playing really fast and I want to get a C, I can... That's 6%.
Guest:I can get it and...
Guest:in the first position where I was stretching my arm.
Guest:Oh, I see.
Guest:I can just hit the note here.
Guest:So you might have like a fast riff.
Guest:Do you feel like that's cheating?
Guest:No, no, no, not at all.
Guest:I have one of them.
Guest:It's not cheating at all.
Guest:Yeah, because you can only do two or three notes, but it's like if you go instead of going all the way out.
Guest:But usually just use a straight, regular, standard trombone.
Guest:Yeah, I'm just regular.
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Marc:I got to be rock and roll on that one.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:So when you go out with Kravitz, that seems like it's right around the time that Katrina hit.
Guest:Yeah, it's a couple of months after I joined the band.
Guest:So you're away when it happened?
Guest:So I was in the band.
Guest:We had just started the South America tour, and we were out for a couple of months.
Guest:And I went back home for a two-week break.
Guest:And during that two-week break, three-week break, Katrina hit.
Guest:And I had to get back on tour without knowing where some of my family was.
Guest:We still was trying to locate people.
Guest:Really?
Guest:And different things, yeah.
Guest:But thank the Lord that I was in that band at that moment because I was able to...
Guest:make a living with a superstar, play in arenas and different things.
Guest:And later on when things started to settle down, we were doing an American tour.
Guest:I think it was Lenny and we were playing on the road with Aerosmith.
Guest:We were doing like a co-build thing.
Guest:He was opening up.
Guest:And...
Guest:One good thing about that is that we traveled all over the United States, and most of my family and friends were displaced and everywhere.
Guest:Really?
Guest:So everything, the whole neighborhood got flooded out?
Guest:Yeah, the neighborhood.
Guest:My neighborhood of Treme is close to the French Quarter, which is the highest point of the city.
Guest:Right, okay.
Guest:So we had some water in that neighborhood.
Guest:But nothing that was topping the house like it was in the ninth wall.
Guest:Oh, so you got lucky.
Guest:Yeah, we got lucky.
Guest:We just had to change some floors and some wooding around.
Guest:And you found everybody?
Guest:We found everybody, yeah.
Guest:It took some months, but we found everybody.
Guest:Months?
Guest:Yeah, some people, you know, maybe about a month or so that we didn't hear from everyone.
Guest:And after about a month or two, we started to know where everyone was.
Marc:And did you find that, did it change any, like you're already close to the city, but did that change the necessity of sort of how you feel about the city?
Marc:No, no.
Guest:If anything, it...
Guest:It made everyone from New Orleans realize that we had a magical, special place.
Guest:Because I was telling you before Katrina, there were some people that never left their neighborhood and even seen the rest of New Orleans in 30 years.
Guest:So that just made us feel closer, and we just hugged it a little tighter.
Marc:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Marc:and and uh so this record you know i read some of the press now you know you had your mother of mine uh in the title lifted yeah yeah when did she pass away november a couple of months ago and my grandmother uh february yeah right after that yeah and did you did you play at their their funerals
Guest:Of course.
Guest:Yeah?
Guest:It was very hard.
Guest:It's very hard to perform.
Guest:But I've probably played hundreds of funerals being in New Orleans, but that was probably the toughest.
Marc:Yeah, of course.
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:And I played all the way to the end.
Guest:Yeah?
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Does it help, like, I guess in the same sense, well, Jews, they do a week thing.
Marc:It's a week long.
Marc:You don't do much of anything.
Marc:You don't work.
Marc:You don't do nothing.
Marc:It's different.
Marc:You reflect.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:But I imagine that the spiritual element with the support of the family and the other musicians and everybody in the community that knew the deceased that like once you get done with that playing that you feel some relief I imagine.
Guest:yeah yeah yeah you you can see it and feel it so uh as soon as someone passes away in new orleans that was a cultural barrier a musician that week things happen yeah we do a whole week of parades right okay only for like the cultural barriers of people musicians up here that kept it along but you'll see it's a sadness and then once we start playing and we finish it
Guest:It is a sign of relief.
Guest:The music takes us there, and then we got through it because we've been dealing with it all week.
Guest:But we don't sit down and sit in a dark room.
Marc:Right.
Marc:It's like an immediate way to deal with the trauma of grief.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Because grief comes and goes, man.
Marc:You can't manage it.
Marc:But I imagine just that sort of like, here you go.
Marc:Here we go.
Marc:Giving it to the sky or whatever.
Marc:That's it.
Marc:That's it.
Marc:Wow.
Marc:So this record comes out.
Marc:It's out.
Marc:It's not out yet.
Marc:No, it's out on April 29th.
Marc:Yeah, man.
Marc:It's like the whole thing just plows along.
Marc:Thank you.
Marc:Thank you.
Marc:It's all the horns, too.
Marc:Who's the producer on this?
Guest:Chris Seafree.
Guest:And you record this at your own place?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:In New Orleans, I got a place we call Buck Jump, which is another word for second lining.
Guest:We like to buck jump out there.
Marc:Oh, buck jump.
Marc:All right.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:And I bought the studio from Better Than Ezra.
Guest:A rock band.
Marc:Yeah, I know those guys.
Guest:Yeah, so they had it for many, many years, and I was recording in there, and they said that they was getting rid of it.
Guest:And I told them to help whoever called me.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And then we started to talk.
Guest:So it was already set up?
Guest:It was already set up.
Guest:Of course, I did a little remodeling to get it up to date and different wiring and different things, but it was already ready to be a studio.
Marc:And they're New Orleans guys?
Guest:I don't think they're from New Orleans, but they started their career, or at least they've been there for 20, 30 years.
Guest:So they're part of us.
Marc:Right.
Marc:But that's interesting, though, because like you were saying earlier, it gives you the option to be, if you have your own space and you got the keys, you can get an idea and call someone in the middle of the night.
Marc:Absolutely.
Marc:And say, let's work out this riff.
Marc:That's it.
Marc:Or whatever.
Marc:And that happens.
Guest:It does.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I just called my engineer.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And I call my guitar player.
Guest:Sometimes, normally, I'll just go by myself, and then I'll try to create all of the instruments by myself, and they'll come in and play it much better than me.
Guest:But on the record, we did a song, Might Not Make It Home.
Guest:We were actually playing at the House of Blues for an event for the school that I went to, a fundraiser.
Guest:We probably got off at midnight, and I had...
Guest:I had this vibe in my head as soon as I got off, and I just told the band, hey, man, y'all all right?
Guest:Let's get something to eat.
Guest:And we went to the studio, and we started the session about 2 a.m., and we recorded that vibe.
Guest:Really?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And you got it?
Guest:And we got it.
Guest:We just stayed there until like 6 in the morning.
Guest:I got skylights in there, so the sun started to come out.
Guest:But we were in the thing, and that's the beauty of having it.
Guest:I just had to make sure none of their girlfriends got mad with me.
Guest:from them not coming home right afterwards, you know.
Marc:Make sure they understood where they were.
Marc:Yeah, they understood.
Marc:Yeah, we're working.
Marc:We're working, that's right.
Marc:Well, that's a lot better to have that than to try to get it on your phone.
Guest:Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
Guest:Sometimes when I get ideas, I can't sleep until I got at least the music 100% complete.
Guest:Right.
Guest:So I have to do it right there and be able to feel it in a few hours of taking home so I can move on to the next stage.
Marc:idea on top so we went in there to record it as if this is the end right this is what we need to do like oh yeah you touch nothing else right well so you said that like some of the other records you know you get kind of uh meticulous about you know how everything needs to be in the studio and this in this record it's more you know it's more informed by uh the energy that you guys get when you're live absolutely so what'd you have to do to stop yourself from over you
Guest:over you know what i mean for from uh uh being meticulous or yeah or just over producing it well we did it uh uh well we learned the music and then we performed it okay yeah so you performed it live in the studio right yeah so i like let's learn let's see where we are
Guest:We did very, very little overdose, mostly like tambourines and horns.
Marc:Really?
Marc:So with all that, how many guys in your band?
Guest:I got 10 people in the band, 12, but only three or four of them was on this record.
Guest:We used one drummer.
Guest:I got two drummers.
Guest:We used one drummer, bass guitar, organist, and the other guitar.
Guest:And most times I played Fender Rhodes and just auxiliary.
Guest:What are all the horns?
Guest:Me on tuba.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Trombone and trumpet.
Guest:And we had a baritone sax and a tenor sax.
Guest:You did three horns?
Marc:I did three horns.
Marc:So you're saying you just played the basis, the core of the song is live.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And then you layered it on.
Marc:And then we put the horns on.
Guest:But we played together.
Guest:Right.
Guest:So because the studio is not that big.
Guest:We could have done it, but I let the rhythm section, which is the drums, bass, keys, and guitar, they played, and maybe I was singing a scratch vocal just to guide them.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:And then me and the horns, we went back in there, and we played it live on top of so we can get the same room sound.
Marc:Yeah, that horn sound.
Marc:You jacked up those horns, man.
Marc:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:Well, I do a lot of...
Guest:doubling and tripling.
Guest:So we'll play the line, then we'll play it again, then we'll play it again.
Guest:But sometimes when you're recording horns, especially the saxophones, you'll get a phasing thing when you double it.
Guest:So what we'll do is when we double, sometimes we'll switch parts.
Guest:So whatever the sax played on the first one, I would play that on my trombone and he'll play what my trombone is playing.
Guest:Okay.
Guest:So we got the same chord and the same sound.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:But the texture is different.
Marc:Oh, wow.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:That's a lot.
Marc:And I think it's timely because it seems to me that something's happening within hip hop and R&B that there is a kind of...
Marc:slightly retro movement going on yeah yeah right right you know like with silk sonic and shit where you you know you're kind of getting back to that to that type of r&b that was a little more easy listening yeah yeah yeah that's right right and so maybe like you know it's time that you know that that a real a sort of renewed interest in in that kind of 70s horn band thing because like really when i'm listening to i'm like this used to happen a lot right it doesn't happen anymore that's right
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Maybe I'm in the wrong time.
Marc:No, no.
Marc:Maybe your timing's perfect for right now.
Guest:That's right, yeah.
Marc:Because all of it comes back around.
Marc:Yeah, yeah.
Marc:And it's new and different.
Marc:It's new and different.
Marc:Yeah, yeah.
Marc:Even like Sly, man.
Marc:Sly found the song.
Marc:Does big horns.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Big horns.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:But yeah, I haven't heard anything like it in a long time.
Marc:And it's totally its own thing.
Marc:It's not drawing from anything, but it was just sort of like the whole presence of the horn band hasn't been around in a while.
Marc:That's right.
Marc:It's time.
Marc:That's what I'm saying.
Guest:No, it's definitely time.
Guest:Hopefully we lead in the pack so we can get some more.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:But what do you do?
Marc:Because I know you have some.
Marc:Do you teach?
Marc:Do you have a school?
Marc:Do you have a foundation?
Guest:I have a foundation, and we have an academy that's connected to the foundation.
Marc:Oh, yeah.
Guest:So every Monday night in New Orleans after school, we get a bunch of children, and we teach them.
Guest:I hire a lot of local musicians because I'm always on the road, so I can't be there.
Guest:So I'll drop in when I can, but we put some of the older musicians to, well, people my age and a little older and younger to work to teach the kids.
Guest:So in the program, not only do they learn music, but they learn music business and audio engineering.
Guest:Oh, wow.
Guest:So at a young age, I wanted to make sure that those kids had all the twos and nothing was foreign to them.
Guest:So when they because let's be honest, some of them not going to continue to play music.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Some of them going to go into the music side of business.
Guest:That's OK.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And that's but it's all an entertainment business.
Guest:So.
Guest:We try to give them everything.
Guest:That way when they become professionals, none of this is completely new to them.
Marc:Right.
Marc:It's good.
Marc:It's a good option to integrate their understanding of what it takes to make music, recorded music.
Marc:Because if somebody's not great or they lose their esteem as a musician, they can at least say, I can put my talents in this other area.
Guest:And it's still in the same arena.
Marc:Yeah, exactly.
Guest:So we wanted to give that to the kid.
Marc:Yeah, so we don't need any more bitter musicians around.
Marc:No, we don't need that at all, please.
Guest:We got a lot.
Guest:Plenty of those.
Guest:Yeah, somebody told me, they said, you know how to get a musician to complain?
Guest:I say, how?
Guest:They say, give him a gig.
Guest:I definitely experienced that with some people.
Guest:I'm like, man, you know.
Guest:What are you working?
Guest:Yeah, you was at home just chilling.
Guest:Now we on the thing.
Guest:Okay, all right.
Marc:Then you understand why they don't get work.
Marc:That's right.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:But they don't understand.
Guest:Of course not.
Guest:It was good talking to you, man.
Guest:Same here, man.
Guest:Thank you for having me.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Trombone Shorty.
Marc:That was exciting.
Marc:I learned a lot, and I like that.
Marc:I like learning about music.
Marc:All right?
Marc:And I like that guy.
Marc:And I like the new record, Lifted, which is available tomorrow, April 29th, wherever you get your music.
Marc:Go to wtfpod.com slash tour for the dates.
Marc:I'm going to go.
Marc:I'm going to go to the Walgreens because I'm in Madison, Wisconsin, and I want to go check out the Walgreens because I like Walgreens.
Marc:That's what I do on the road, man.
Marc:Let's go look at the travel section.
Marc:Travel section time.
Marc:No music.
Marc:Go listen to Trombone Shorty.
Marc:Boomer lives!
Marc:Monkey and La Fonda.
Marc:Cat angels everywhere.
Marc:Cat angels fucking everywhere, man.
.
.