By Jorge Casuso

August 29, 2013 -- He’s played the national anthem before an NFL playoff game and at the White House. On Thursday, Trombone Shorty will take the stage at the Santa Monica Pier as the headliner at the free Twilight Concert Series.

Known primarily by his stage name Trombone Shorty, Troy Andrews, who hails from New Orleans, stirs up a sizzling gumbo of old-school jazz, funk and soul and spices it up with some hard-rock power chords and hip-hop beats.

His band -- composed of Mike Ballard on bass, Pete Murano on guitar, Joey Peebles on drums, Dan Oestreicher on baritone sax and Tim McFatter on tenor sax -- has been spreading the sound far and wide, performing more than 200 shows in the last 18 months.

“Every night we allowed the music to take us over,” Andrews said. “Musically and creatively, we wanted to shoot for some different things. We never sat down and really thought about concepts and what we wanted our music to sound like.

“It’s just that, over the years, we allowed each one of the band members to bring their influences and taste in music into our music,” he said. “It’s just our sound, and it happened naturally.”

Andrews’ most recent album, 2011’s “For True,” features 14 tracks he wrote or co-wrote, including collaborations with the legendary Lamont Dozier.

Andrews has played with guitar icon Jeff Beck, who called his band “a sensational group of musicians” and Trombone Shorty “one to watch.” And he joined Kid Rock onstage at Jazz Fest.

Andrews has also garnered some impressive press. The New York Times reviewer Nate Chinen called him “a native prodigy destined for breakout success,” and the San Francisco Chronicle’s Joel Selvin hailed him as “New Orleans’ brightest new star in a generation.”

Opening Thursday’s show will be The Dustbowl Revival, a Venice-based collective that “merges old school bluegrass, gospel, jug-band, swamp blues and the hot swing of the 1930’s to form a spicy roots cocktail,” according to the concert’s promoters.

The Thursday night concerts will be emceed by DJs from 89.9 FM KCRW, the media partner for the Twilight Concert Series.

Concertgoers are encouraged to take the Big Blue Bus. Parking will be available in the lot north of the pier at 1550 Pacific Coast Highway, however parking on the Santa Monica Pier deck will be closed.

The City of Santa Monica will provide a free bike valet, stationed on the beach next to the bicycle path on the south side of the pier.

More information about the Twilight Concert Series can be found at twilightseries.org.