By Russ Tarby

Contributing Writer

Area jazz fans wrestle with the horns of a dilemma this Saturday as they decide whether to drive to Waterloo to hear Trombone Shorty or head to downtown Syracuse for guitarist Joshua Breakstone.

New Orleans brassman at casino    

Troy Andrews made his New Orleans jazz parade debut at age 6. They called him “Trombone Shorty.”

Taking his music seriously even as a kid, Shorty studied at the New Orleans Center for the Creative Arts, the jazz incubator founded in 1973 on Perrier Street, Uptown. Shorty soon became a member of the Stooges Brass Band.

Before long, Trombone Shorty refocused on his own music and recorded an album, Backatown, which was nominated for a Grammy in 2010. His sophomore effort, For True, spent 12 weeks atop Billboard’s Contemporary Jazz Chart.

The band’s 2018 disc – “Parking Lot Symphony” (Blue Note, 2017) – includes tracks such as “Laveau Dirge No.1,” “Dirty Water” and “Here Come the Girls.”

Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue perform at 8 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 12, at The Vine at Del Lago Resort, 1133 State Route 414, in Waterloo. Ticket prices range between $25 and $75; dellagoresort.showare.com; 315-946-1777.

Trombone Shorty’s new album opens with a dirge, but if you think the beloved bandleader, and horn-blower came here to mourn, you got it all wrong. That bit of beautiful New Orleans soul – “Laveau Dirge No. 1,” named after the city’s most infamous voodoo queen – shows off Shorty’s roots before “Parking Lot Symphony” branches out wildly and wonderfully across 12 diverse cuts. True to its title, the album’s a veritable cornucopia of sound – from brass band blare and deep-groove funk, to bluesy beauty and hip-hop/pop swagger – and plenty of emotion. The disc demonstrates Shorty’s opinions that, even in the toughest of times, “Music brings unity.”

Jazz guitar god at Jazz Central

New Jersey-born guitarist Joshua Breakstone plays a tribute to the late drummer Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 12, at Jazz Central, 441 E. Washington St., in downtown Syracuse. Admission costs $22 in advance, or $24 at the door or $10 with student ID; 315-479-JAZZ; cnyjazz.org.

Breakstone’s trio is touring in support of his latest album on Capri Records, “Children of Art,” celebrating the 100th birthday of hard-bop drummer Art Blakey, who died in 1990.  On the new recording, Breakstone is accompanied by drummer Eliot Zigmund and bassist Martin Wind.

A student of the great guitarist Sal Salvador and a product of the Berklee School of Music, Breakstone made his recording debut in 1979 with A-listers Joanne Brackeen, Cecil McMee and Billy Hart. He hasn’t looked back since, logging some two dozen recordings as sideman and leader on French, American and Japanese labels.

The Joe Policastro Trio from Chicago takes the Jazz Central stage at 7 p.m. Monday, Oct. 14. Admission costs $15 in advance, or $18 at the door, $5 with student ID;

JASS Jam Oct. 13

The Jazz Appreciation Society of Syracuse Jam Sessions have found a new home and a new day of the week. The swinging sessions continue from 4 to 7 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 13, at the Spaghetti Warehouse, 689 N. Clinton St., in Syracuse; jasscny.org. Admission is free, and all musicians and vocalists are invited to sit in; 315-439-3435.