Troy ‘Trombone Shorty’ Andrews has launched the Trombone Shorty Music Academy in partnership with Tulane University in New Orleans. The Academy, which is the first project of Andrews newly formed Trombone Shorty Foundation, will provide music education to underserved high school students in the New Orleans area. The students—who will be chosen via an audition process—will learn about reading and writing music, as well as about various New Orleans music traditions like jazz, gospel, brass-band and even Trombone Shorty’s own hybrid style of “SupaFunkRock” from instructors like jazz pianist Jesse McBride. The free after-school program also aims to teach students about the music business. Auditions for the Trombone Shorty Music Academy will take place on Tulane’s campus on January 14. You can email [email protected] for more information.

Andrews knows a thing or two about the importance of music education. The virtuoso bandleader studied music at the acclaimed New Orleans Center for Creative Arts while he was in high school, and his band Orleans Avenue includes a number of his fellow NOCCA graduates. You can read the “On The Verge” article on Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue from the 2010 April-May issue of Relix here.