Troy Andrews —AKA Trombone Shorty—has definitely been on a roll for the last year or so.

First, in April of 2010, he released the super-funky “Backatown” album—a disc that won glowing reviews and helped him break out to the mass audience.

Before long, he was playing more high-profile gigs—including one of the prestigious closing slots at Jazzfest and his debut gig at the Hollywood Bowl for the Playboy Jazz Festival.

In December, “Backatown” was nominated for a Grammy for Best Contemporary Jazz Album, and in January, Andrews won five Best of the Beat awards from the New Orleans’ Offbeat magazine—snagging honors for Artist of the Year, Album of the Year, Best R&B/Funk Artist, Best R&B/Funk Album and Best Trombonist.

Then, in February, Andrews was named to NBC News’ “The Grio’s 100: History Makers in the Making”—a list of the top 100 African-American men and women who are helping to write the next chapter of American history.

And Andrews and his band, Orleans Avenue, are presently knocking audiences dead on their current tour, which comes to the Power Center on Tuesday for an Ann Arbor Summer Festival show.

The music on “Backatown,” is a combustible roux of funk, rock, New Orleans R&B, and hip-hop that Andrews—a New Orleans native—has dubbed "Supafunkrock."

“Backatown” is a term used by New Orleans natives for an area of the city that includes the historic Treme neighborhood, where Andrews grew up. That area also encompasses Congo Square, the birthplace of Louis Armstrong, and which has been dubbed "the most musical neighborhood in America's most musical city." (The Treme district, of course, has also been depicted, in gritty fashion, in the HBO series of the same name.)

The album was produced by Ben Ellman of Galactic (another New Orleans native) and includes guests turns by Lenny Kravitz, Marc Broussard and New Orleans legend Allen Toussaint, who plays piano on his own composition, "On Your Way Down," which is the album’s lone cover—the other 13 songs were written or co-written by Andrews.

Andrews, only 25 years old, has been hailed not only as a stellar trombonist, but also for his trumpet-playing talents. Plus, he’s an expressive singer and charismatic front man.

And the critics are fully on board. After catching one of Andrews’ live gigs, The New York Times’ Jon Pareles wrote that Andrews “flaunted the presence of a rock star," and USA Today effused about his "blistering, bold, exuberant and cutting edge" performances.

Fellow musicians have been just as generous in their praise. Way back when Andrews was just 12 years old, Bono and the Edge from U2 wandered into a New Orleans club where Andrews was playing, and the Edge later said, “We were just mesmerized by him.” (Many years later, in ’06, Andrews was chosen to join U2 and Green Day for a performance to reopen the Superdome after Hurricane Katrina.) “Kravitz, meanwhile, laid it on the line, saying, “Shorty’s a genius—he plays his ass off.”

Andrews is also well-schooled in his craft. He’s a graduate of the New Orleans Center for the Creative Arts—a school whose alums also include such New Orleans jazz stalwarts as Wynton and Branford Marsalis, Harry Connick Jr and Nicholas Payton.

Regarding “Backatown”’s boisterous eclecticism: "In our band we have people from different cultural backgrounds who listen to all kinds of different styles," explains Andrews on his website. "And when we get into our studio in New Orleans—we call it the Gumbo Room—we throw it all in and see how we can make it work as one thing, so that it's not so left-field. We just try to make everything fit, you know, and I think that had a major effect on the record.

“We just banged a bunch of things out to see how they could work. We weren't afraid to approach a bunch of different musical styles—rock music, R&B, whatever—just because there's a horn in front. We just did what we do, and over time we developed something fresh.”

The disc kicks off with the churning, punchy "Hurricane Season," a horn-heavy instrumental that Andrews has described as trying to capture the tension-and-release mindset—and coping activities—of New Orleans residents in the post-Katrina era. Next up is the beckoning, undulating rendition of "On Your Way Down," which is a fitting follow-up to the first song, given its distinctive New Orleans vibe.

Another standout is the sparsely-arranged but deep-grooving "Something Beautiful," beefed up by some sinuous, incisive guitar work by Kravitz. And the title track is a driving, syncopated blast that, like much of Andrews’ music, draws on jazz, soul-funk and New Orleans brass-band music.

While Andrews is excited about his latest music, and how well-received it’s been, he’s trying to take it all in stride, and is primarily committed to just getting better at making music—which he believes is something he was just born to do.

"As soon as I was born, my mom said I was humming 'When the Saints Go Marching In,' or something like that, you know?," he told NPR. "It's in the family. And in that neighborhood, I think everybody has some type of musical influence, even if they don't play instruments or anything. It's the way they talk to you, the way they say your name — it's all musical."

Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue on "The Late Show with David Letterman":

Kevin Ransom is a free-lance writer who covers music for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at KevinRansom10@aol.com