The Roots, Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue at Chautauqua Institution

See The Roots and Trombone Shorty, two of the most acclaimed acts in jazz and hip-hop, in a one-of-a-kind double-bill performance at the Chautauqua Institution Amphitheater. The Roots: Formed in 1987, in Philadelphia, PA, the legendary Roots Crew, consists of Black Thought (MC), Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson (drums), Kamal Gray (electronic keyboards), F. Knuckles (percussion), Captain Kirk Douglas (electronic guitar), Damon Bryson (sousaphone) and James Poyser (electronic keyboard). Having previously released 12 projects, The Roots have become one of the best known and most respected hip-hop acts in the business, winning four Grammys, including “Best R&B Album” for Wake Up!, “Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance” for “Hang in There” (with John Legend) and “Best Group or Duo R&B Vocal Performance” for “Shine.” The ensemble was most recently nominated for “Best Rap Album” for the 2011 release of undun...

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See The Roots and Trombone Shorty, two of the most acclaimed acts in jazz and hip-hop, in a one-of-a-kind double-bill performance at the Chautauqua Institution Amphitheater. The Roots: Formed in 1987, in Philadelphia, PA, the legendary Roots Crew, consists of Black Thought (MC), Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson (drums), Kamal Gray (electronic keyboards), F. Knuckles (percussion), Captain Kirk Douglas (electronic guitar), Damon Bryson (sousaphone) and James Poyser (electronic keyboard). Having previously released 12 projects, The Roots have become one of the best known and most respected hip-hop acts in the business, winning four Grammys, including “Best R&B Album” for Wake Up!, “Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance” for “Hang in There” (with John Legend) and “Best Group or Duo R&B Vocal Performance” for “Shine.” The ensemble was most recently nominated for “Best Rap Album” for the 2011 release of undun. This brings the band’s Grammy nomination count to 12. Additionally, The Roots have become the faces of Philly’s “Fourth of July Jam,” an annual concert held during the Fourth of July with the biggest names in music, and “The Roots Picnic,” a yearly star-studded mix of musicians, that has become a celebrated institution during awards season. Recently The Roots were named one of the greatest live bands around by Rolling Stone, became the official house band on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon where they currently perform every Monday through Friday. The Roots celebrated the release of their 11th studio album…and then you shoot your cousin in May 2014. Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue: Trombone Shorty’s new album opens with a dirge, but if you think the beloved bandleader, singer, songwriter and horn-blower born Troy Andrews came here to mourn, you got it all wrong. That bit of beautiful New Orleans soul — Laveau Dirge No. 1, named after one of the city’s most famous voodoo queens — shows off our host’s roots before Parking Lot Symphony branches out wildly, wonderfully, funkily across 12 diverse cuts. True to its title, this album contains multitudes of sound — from brass band blare and deep-groove funk, to bluesy beauty and hip-hop/pop swagger — and plenty of emotion all anchored, of course, by stellar playing and the idea that, even in the toughest of times, as Andrews says, “Music brings unity.”

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