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Trombone Shorty Guitarist, Pete Murano Plays the Classic Pro Distortion and Tri-Mod Wah

Friday, June 11, 2010

Posted by: Jeffrey McAlack | Posted in: Artist / Heroes

Sadly, it’s been a few years since I’ve visited the old town of New Orleans, but lucky for me, a guy they call Trombone Shorty brought a hot and spicy taste of “The Big Easy” to me.  Last Tuesday, in front of a sold out Paradise Rock Club in Boston, MA, Troy “Trombone Shorty” Andrews and his jet fueled band performed an incredible set of explosive of rock, jazz, R & B, and hip-hop influenced music that Mr. Shorty likes to call, “Supafunkrock”.  This guy is a smoking horn player/singer/songwriter with a fascinating back-story. Troy Andrews grew up in the Treme neighborhood of New Orleans. Yes, the same Hurricane Katrina rattled neighborhood that serves as the setting for the new HBO series, Treme—the birthplace of Louis Armstrong and, in the opinion of most knowledgeable folks, jazz music itself.  So a love and appreciation for great music was infused in him from the days of diapers—he confesses; “This neighborhood, period, was the most influential thing in my life.” Now at the ripe old age of 24 he’s released his first major label record, Backatown, for Verve Forecast.  It captures perfectly a rich mixture of musical styles reflecting not only the sound of New Orleans, but also the sound of America.

A Young Trombone Shorty plays his horn for rock legend Bo Diddley.

The two hour plus set was as much a party as a concert, Trombone Shorty and the band weaved together a seamless mix of funky gems like “Something Beautiful” and “One Night Only (The March)” from the new record with some great cover versions of Marvin Gaye’s, “Let’s Get It On” and The Isley Brothers’ “Shout.” It was also great fun hearing the band reference a diverse set of tunes from a wide range of American artists like The Black Eyed Peas, the Violent Femmes and, of course, Louis Armstrong. But at the heart of this party was tremendous musicianship—the crowd was treated to some fantastic collective grooves as well as solos from every member of the group.

We are also very happy to report that Pete Murano, the band’s dynamic lead guitarist plays through Source Audio pedals.  Given the wide range of Pete’s tone needs, the Soundblox Pro Classic Distortion serves him well by fattening up his riffs and solos with its broad palette of fuzz and distortion possibilities. Pete also uses the Soundblox Tri-Mod Wah and the Hot Hand ring to coax some wild wah effects. With the ring fastened to the headstock of his guitar and the Wah set to Multipeak 03, Pete achieves some very guttural, almost vocal effects. Check out this short clip shot during their sound-check to get a feel for the very cool Vocoderesque sound the pedal creates. Listen close and you’ll swear you hear Peter Frampton asking, “Do you feel right?” You’ll also get a taste of Pete’s killer blues drenched guitar playing. (Sorry for that quality of the picture, there wasn’t a lot of light on the stage at this hour.)

I also highly recommend checking out this video, it’s a great interview piece with the man himself, Trombone Shorty. Enjoy.

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