It was just music all day... My neighbors were musicians, and my brother and my family and everybody... It was just a musical neighborhood. I think the neighborhood was such a good family type of vibe for me that I didn't even realize some of the people weren't my real family till later on in life.
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'm always trying to emulate guitar. Especially when I'm playing the trombone, that's what I think about. Like, I listen to guitar players every day: Warren Haynes, Lenny Kravitz, Prince, different people. And I'm always trying to find out a way how I can get my trombone to sound like that.
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.
Whenever I go jamming, people are looking to cut me. The young ones learn my stuff and come play it at me, and I have to learn other stuff. I feel a lot of pressure. But it's cool. It's a good pressure.
Being jazz-trained, things happen spontaneously. Even though it's funk rock, we still have the instincts of a jazz musician.
Certain jazz musicians just copy what was done 100 years ago. The music won't grow if nobody takes a risk.
I didn't grow up during the time that Louis Armstrong or Miles Davis and all those people were playing. So it's not really my responsibility to keep it up, what they were doing.
You've got different people that have different views of New Orleans. When you say 'New Orleans,' you have people who just think of the Neville Brothers. You've got people that think of Louis Armstrong. You say 'New Orleans,' and you've got people that think of Lil' Wayne.
People get caught up in recreating something, and that actually hurts the genre of music because there's nothing new.
Actually, I started off playing by ear and being around a bunch of musicians playing in the streets in the different parades.
When we're ready to do the dress rehearsal, we'll rehearse in the dark. No lights. The reason why I do that is because I don't want the band to rely on me for anything. 'Cause anything can happen - I might stop singing or unplug the mic, just so everybody knows: Keep going, no matter what.
I never really listened to any particular trombone players.
Whenever we can, we try to talk to students. If I can, I'll invite kids from a school to a sound check and take questions from them. I want to show them it's cool to play the trombone. Kids are influenced by what's accessible to them. It's hard for kids to be introduced to music other than what they see on TV and video.
Most people don't even know what a trombone is. It's not that popular as a front instrument... I picked it up and fell in love with it as a kid. It's a difficult instrument, but I like doing things that seem impossible.
My parents pushed me toward trombone because they didn't need another trumpet player.
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.
