I was sure my call woke him. And after nine days touring across Australia, I couldn’t blame him for being tired.

But when Troy Andrews — aka Trombone Shorty — began to talk about the music that sends him around the world, it was clear that not even a 23-hour flight could put a damper on his enthusiasm.

From the 6th Ward to The Broadmoor, Shorty brings more than just a tradition of New Orleans-style music to the Klugh’s Weekend of Jazz, which is in its ninth year. He brings his signature sound, “supafunkrock.” A mix of old and new, raw and refined, this unclassified genre plays with styles that sometimes put jazz traditionalists on edge. Yet the 26-year-old master of brass insists he just “makes music people can dance to.”

Stirring together flavors of home as well as the influence of his band mates and peers, Trombone Shorty and his bandOrleans Avenueproduced the Grammy-nominated “Backatown” in 2010. Last year they released “For True.”

Here, we talk about his tour, his hometown pride and the way he’s so often  called a prodigy.

The Gazette: Many artists become overwhelmed and creatively drained by touring, but from what I’ve read, you’re energized by it.

Trombone Shorty: Well, when it comes to writing the music, it can be a challenge. But we’re all playing so much and letting the music take over that you can’t help but be in a groove. … You’re getting better every time you play. Then you can take it all back to the studio and that’s where you put it all together.

Gazette: When people talk about you, the word “prodigy” comes up a lot.

Shorty: Well, I don’t consider myself a prodigy. I started playing when I was 4. I mean, I think I work hard at my craft and I take it seriously. It’s like that with anything, really. Work hard at something you love and you can do well. I really love what I do and I get to do it every day.

Gazette: You work with a pretty diverse community of musicians: Harry Connick Jr., Kid Rock, U2, Lenny Kravitz and others. Do you have any mentors?

Shorty: Definitely Lenny Kravitz. We’re friends, toured together and we play together as often as we can. He’s someone who opens my mind because we get to improvise, but at the same time, he’s also taught me good discipline. We try to play together as much as we can. It’s just hard because or schedules are always different.

Gazette: I know you like to give back to your hometown. What can you tell us about your new foundation?

Shorty: Yeah, it’s the Horns for Schools project. I created my own line of horns and I wanted to be able to put my horns in schools. With the crime rate what it is, I wanted to put something in the kids’ hands to give them a love for music and show them what they can do with it. My brother did that for me. He put the horn in my hands. If it weren’t for my brother, I wouldn’t be playing music. I wanted to do something like that for these kids.

Gazette: What do you tell people about the jazz scene inNew Orleanscompared with what you see in other places? How do you like playing inColorado Springs?

Shorty: Well, that’s tough because I don’t really know a lot about the other areas. We love to play wherever we go, but we’re moving so fast from one place to the next, just playing our own stuff. I play all kinds of music but I don’t get to see a real jazz scene everywhere I go. We love to playColorado Springs. It’s a challenge sometimes for me because of the altitude, but we always have a good time there.

When I think about the jazz scene inNew Orleans, it’s tough to compare it. I just think about it like music back home, it’s music I grew up with, it’s music to dance to … it’s just New Orleans music and there’s no other place that can really do it like New Orleans.

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