“It Ain’t No Use” (PDF) from the Trombone Shorty album, Parking Lot Symphony.

It seemed apt that Trombone Shorty and The Meters both played closing sets at the 2017 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival because, despite the fans having to choose between the two performances, it eliminated any possibility of an onstage collaboration or an actual #FOMO moment.  Trombone Shorty’s timely version of The Meters’ “It Ain’t No Use” was reason enough to suspect a guest appearance to cap off the fest, in fact The Meters’ even accompanied Shorty on “Be My Lady” from his previous album, as well as the rich shared history between the Andrews and Neville families, but perhaps the dueling performances between musical giants was representative of just an ordinary Sunday in New Orleans.

Allen Toussaint produced the original Meters recording from the Rejuvenation album, and also wrote the song “Here Come The Girls” made popular by Ernie K-Doe and covered by Trombone Shorty on this album as well.  Cover songs are often a good launching point to begin long recording sessions and allow the artist to into the flow of production without having to focus on song arrangement, instrumentation, or crafting an inspired performance.  The intention is that the success of recording a cover will carry over into the production of original material which will hopefully become more memorable of the finished album.

Here is a YouTube video of Trombone Shorty performing “It Ain’t No Use” with the help of Ivan Neville on keyboards.

Recommended reading: Trombone Shorty by Troy Andrews.  Published by Abrams Books for Young Readers.