Tour, celebrating NOLA’s Tricentennial, features Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue, Galactic, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, New Breed Brass Band and more!
BETHLEHEM, PA–As Musikfest celebrates its 35th year, the City of New Orleans, one of the nation’s most iconic music cities, will be celebrating its 300th Anniversary. To commemorate his hometown’s tricentennial, Trombone Shorty has handpicked an all-star lineup of Crescent City musicians to tour the nation as “Trombone Shorty’s Voodoo Threauxdown.”
The revue, which will bring the spirit and the sound of New Orleans to 27 cities from coast to coast in August and September, kicks off its tour at Musikfest’s Sands Steel Stage Thurs., Aug. 2, 7 p.m. Tickets for the performance are $49 in advance and $54 day of show. They go on sale Wed., Feb. 14, 10 a.m., to ArtsQuest Members and Fri., Feb. 16, 10 a.m., to the public at www.musikfest.org and 610-332-3378.
Headlined by Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue, the touring street party also features Galactic, Preservation Hall Jazz Band and New Breed Brass Band, with special guest appearances by Big Easy legends Cyril Neville and Walter “Wolfman” Washington.
Part Jimi Hendrix, part James Brown and all New Orleans, Troy “Trombone Shorty” Andrews is the bandleader and front man of Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue, a hard-edged funk band that employs brass-band beats, rock dynamics and improvisation in a jazz tradition. NPR hailed him as “New Orleans’ brightest new star in a generation,” and New York Magazine wrote that “Trombone Shorty takes in a century-plus worth of sounds—ragtime and jazz and gospel and soul and R&B and hip-hop—and attacks everything he plays with festive fervor.”
A 2011 GRAMMY Award nominee for his album “Backatown,” Andrews’ virtuosity and high-energy live shows have drawn unanimous raves worldwide with Rolling Stone calling him a “must-see act.” He was named to Forbes’ “30 Under 30” Class of 2016 for Music along with Selena Gomez, The Weekend and Jon Batiste. His illustrated autobiography for young readers, “Trombone Shorty, “was named a 2016 Caldecott Honor Book by the American Library Association, and a follow-up book, “The Five O’Clock Band,” is due later this year.
Blending hip hop, electronic, world music, rock, blues and jazz, jam band Galactic has made people dance for more than 20 years. The six-piece ensemble is described by The New York Times as “a first-rate funk band” having collaborated with renowned vocalists like Mavis Staples and Macy Gray, old friends JJ Grey and David Shaw and new discoveries like Jamaican-born singer Brushy One String.
For more than five decades, Preservation Hall Jazz Band (PHJB) has been traveling the globe, bringing the joy of traditional New Orleans Jazz to music fans around the world. An inspiration to artists across various genres, the group has shared festival stages from Coachella to Newport Folk Festival with legends like Stevie Wonder, Elvis Costello and the Grateful Dead and modern giants like My Morning Jacket, Arcade Fire and the Black Keys. In 2017 the band released the Afro-Cuban and R&B inspired album “So It Is,” with all-original music produced by bassist and bandleader Ben Jaffe along with TV on the Radio’s Dave Sitek.
“When you reflect back on Musikfest, one of the thrills is seeing the rise of some of the artists who have performed at our festival over the years,” says ArtsQuest Chief Programming Officer Patrick Brogan. “Trombone Shorty quickly became a fan favorite when he performed at our free stages in 2009 and 2010, and his musicianship, energy and sheer talent now having him coming back as the headliner on a show featuring some of New Orleans’ finest. The next Sands Steel Stage act we will announce has followed a similar path too, performing a free show at the festival several years ago and now coming back to star on the main stage. Trombone Shorty’s Voodoo Threauxdown – what a way to kick off our 35th year, and a day early to boot. Let’s get the party started!”
Voodoo Threauxdown featuring Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue is supported by media partner WXPN. One of the largest music festivals in the nation, Musikfest features more than 500 performances on 16 stages throughout Bethlehem over 10 days. Proceeds from Musikfest 2018 support ArtsQuest’s free programming for the community year-round at the Banana Factory arts center and the SteelStacks arts and cultural campus. Dates for the 35th edition of the festival are Aug. 3-12.
For more information, visit www.musikfest.org or follow the festival at facebook.com/Musikfest and twitter.com/Musikfest.
Information and image provided to TVL by:
Mark Demko, ArtsQuest
http://www.artsquest.org/
