Andy Pizzo Trio
Hayride Scandal
Baton Rouge
March 4, 2026 (and every Wednesday night)
When you go to play music on your phone, jazz is likely not your first choice. This is a reality that Andy Pizzo recognizes when he goes to play jazz with two others every Wednesday night at Hayride Scandal.
The Andy Pizzo Trio consists of one trombonist (Pizzo), one drummer (Chad Braud) and one organist (Andy Bourgeois). The trio has played Wednesdays at Hayride Scandal for the last two and a half years; they’ve played gigs across the city on and off for about a decade. Every Wednesday they play two sets between 7:30 and 10:30. They play a fresh set each week and don’t repeat a song within a month.
“It’s a mix of all things jazz,” Pizzo said from the stage between songs. “A little funk, a little rock, a little Latin. Let’s see what’s next for you.”
The first set consisted of six tunes including one of Stevie Wonder’s more underappreciated songs, “Bird of Beauty.”
Listening to a jazz band is not like listening to a pop/rock cover band in that it’s not something you sing along to as much as something you let wash over you. The Andy Pizzo Trio weaves a complex tapestry of music and improvised solos through subtle non-verbal cues like head nods and meaningful glances.
“We don’t play anything the way it’s written,” Pizzo said in an interview between sets. “We rearrange everything on site.”
Drummer Braud knows how to rock out and how to set his bandmates up to have their own moment in the spotlight. Pizzo, a natural performer, works the crowd. The trio plays with an ease and familiarity that only people who have played together a lot can.
Many have contended that jazz is dying or at least in decline. Clearly it’s not as in vogue as in its heyday, but the members of the Andy Pizzo Trio are a testament to the fact that jazz is very much alive.
“Louisiana and New Orleans are considered the birthplace of the blues. The birthplace of jazz,” Pizzo said. “We’re just an hour away, with all the great musicians we have here in town. Why do we not have more places supporting it? There should be some place every night of the week. They do it in New Orleans. What’s different?”
There might not be a place to hear live jazz every night of the week in Baton Rouge (yet), but the jazz we do have is important. It’s an excuse to go out, a mood-setter for date night . At least in the case of one educator who interrupted my interview with Pizzo to ask when the band was playing again (he said they’d be back in a few and it had been 17 minutes), the music that helps people dissociate and decompress after work enough that they can wake up the next morning to do it again.
They’ll be back next Wednesday.
