Trombone Shorty

Lifted
(Blue Note)

If you’ve never attended a Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue performance, you should probably fix that. But in the meantime, Lifted offers a capsule of what that experience entails.

While this is not a live album, there is a real attempt to embody the electricity of the groups world-renowned live set.

With Trombone Shorty providing vocals in equal measure with his consistent, New Orleans-produced brass sound, this offering more than reaches its goal of lifting us.

The title track, “Lifted,” is pure hard-charging funk, a song about love’s unrelenting grip delivered with huge guitars, sneering horns and a trombone solo for the ages.

Inspired by the memory of his recently departed mother, Lifted is a welcome addition to the growing legacy of one of this music’s most exciting acts.