A biography for Trombone Shortyhasn’t been written yet.
“Sometimes it's very hard for other New Orleans musicians to break out. It starts with the musician. They have to be willing to take a risk. Playing in the city, you can get comfortable. You think things are going well, but you're always in the city.”
“The music always takes us to different places. We'll just continue to play and see what doors open from there.”
“I'm very proud of 'Backatown,' and usually I don't like to listen to my records.”
“We come from New Orleans, so everything is emotional - for, once the music takes over, and we start blowing, we go into a different zone that takes over our whole body.”
“New Orleans made me who I am.”
“In New Orleans, we celebrate everything. It's probably the only place you'll see people dancing in a funeral home.”
“We have to let the younger generations take our music - and approach it the way they want - but just teach them where it all comes from.”
“When you start playing as young as me, and you've been in front of audiences your entire life, this is literally what I grew up doing.”
“It's like drinking water. You have to have water every day, and music is like water for me.”
“My only time off is when I'm sleeping.”
“That's the way New Orleans is. It's driven by the music.”
“Australia is one of my favorite places to play - it's a crazy experience.”
“We had a bunch of instruments around the house. Like, I played different instruments, trumpet, bass, drums, piano, all that, but whatever I could get my hands on.”
“Music in New Orleans has always been the heartbeat that drives the city. It was that even before Katrina, and that's what we had to rely on after the storm.”
“I got a chance to work with Mystikal and Mannie Fresh and Juvenile and all these people as I was growing up, and so that really influenced everything I do.”
“'Supafunkrock' is a musical gumbo. We throw all those musical influences into the pot and put it out there.”
“I could just play my horn in my room for 20 minutes a day, and I will be happy.”
“I listen to Nine Inch Nails, Green Day, U2, and it becomes part of me, comes out in my music. Wherever it goes, there will always be the fabric of New Orleans in it.”
“I was put on so many different musical stages growing up that I didn't think about what kind of music we played. I just thought music was music.”
“I was listening to Ministry and Garth Brooks and Charlie Pride and Wynton Marsalis, and then I would listen to Juvenile or Lil Wayne. It's just that I'm a big fan of music. I'm a student of music. And I just want to learn and keep enhancing my education about the music.”