"Orleans & Claiborne" - Trombone Shorty

“Orleans & Claiborne” (PDF) from the Troy “Trombone Shorty” Andrews & Orleans Avenue album, Orleans & Claiborne.

This is the first track on the CD, and the tune usually appears early in his live show to set the tone. It's a "buckle-in-and-let's-go" type of song. In this version, the solo is only 16 bars long, so there's no room and no need for any extra "noodle-ing."

It stays based in the Bb blues scale, and the lick that jumps out at me is in bar five. I don't know the origin of this pattern, but I like to call it the "New Orleans" pattern (5-b7-b5-4-b3-1). In bar seven, he slightly shifts the melodic rhythm. The lip slurs in bars nine through twelve show off his flexibility. Bars thirteen through sixteen make use of long tones, and Shorty emphasizes the word "tone." What he's doing with the long tones is building tension. It contrasts all the previous flashiness while increasing the intensity at the same time. As he works his way up the scale, it creates dissonance and Shorty adds a growl, or a flutter tongue technique, to get a real ugly sound. This sets up the release when he hits the powerful high Db. Being the showman that he is, Trombone Shorty usually ends his solos on a high note that energizes his audience.

Here's a YouTube video of Trombone Shorty playing a solo version:

Recommended Reading: Vol. 42 - "Blues In All Keys" by Jamey Aebersold.  Published by Jamey Aebersold Jazz.