NEW ORLEANS – One of the most unique things about this great city is the number of musical families who call New Orleans home.
In celebration of jazz heritage, every Monday News with a Twist will share a story about one of New Orleans’ musical families.
Today, it’s all about the Andrews, one of New Orleans’ largest musical families.
The Andrews family got their start in Treme, where many say the sound of jazz was born.
Jessie Hill “Ooh Poo Pah Doo,” Prince Lala, Walter “Papoose” Nelson,” Revert Andrews, Glen Andrews, Glen David Andrews, “Buddah” Glen Andrews, Eldridge Andrews, Buster Terry Nelson Andrews, Bruce Nelson, and of course, Troy Andrews – better known as “Trombone Shorty.”
These are just a few of the Andrews family names you’ve seen and heard around town for so many years.
James Andrews remembers playing at the World’s Fair when it was held in New Orleans in 1984. Plus, he says, he grew up tap dancing on Bourbon Street.
He remembers his younger brother, Trombone Shorty, “crawling all over the instruments” and trying to play them as a child.
“Christmas was always like, ‘Everyone get their instruments,’ and we’d start a second line,” James Andrews says.
It’s a family with an ever-growing legacy – and part of the fabric of New Orleans.
“That first-time feeling you get when you’re traveling out of the country, and the way the crowd accepts the reaction and the way the crowd accepts the New Orleans music, it’s one of a kind,” James Andrews says. “It’s something that you’ll never forget. Ever.”
Next up on our musical families list: We sit down with Ellis Marsalis and learn about the first family of jazz.