This article is about the American musician. For the American military officer and consultant, see John Batiste. Not to be confused with Jean-Baptiste.
In 2023, Batiste was featured in the documentary film, American Symphony, which records the process of Batiste composing his first symphony.[9] In 2024, Batiste featured in the ensemble comedy-drama film Saturday Night, directed by Jason Reitman, playing the role of musician Billy Preston, as well as composing the film's score.[10]
At 17, Batiste released his debut album, Times in New Orleans. He attended St. Augustine High School and New Orleans Center for Creative Arts with Trombone Shorty in New Orleans and graduated in 2004. He then went on to attend the Juilliard School, receiving a Bachelor of Music in 2008 and a Master of Music in 2011, both in jazz studies.[17] He studied with William Daghlian there.[18] While at Juilliard, he released his second album, Live in New York: At the Rubin Museum of Art. By the end of 2006, Batiste had been a featured performer in South Africa, London, Lisbon, Spain, Paris, and the United States.[19]
In 2007, at the age of 20, Batiste made his debut at the Concertgebouw, in Amsterdam, producing and performing his own show. He conducted music clinics, classes, and workshops throughout the Netherlands in inner-city schools and underprivileged neighborhoods. He was invited to Carnegie Hall to produce and perform in his own show, with six young musicians from the Netherlands.[20] The performance concluded with a finale he composed for choir, jazz combo and orchestral instruments. In the following years, Batiste released a number of music projects, including Social Music (2013), which spent over a month at the top of the Billboard and iTunes jazz charts; The Late Show EP (2016) with Stay Human; and a holiday album, Christmas with Jon Batiste (2016). In 2017, he released the singles "Ohio" with Leon Bridges and Gary Clark Jr., as well as "Battle Hymn of the Republic" for The Atlantic. Batiste's cover of "St. James Infirmary Blues" was nominated for a Grammy in 2019, in the category of Best American Roots Performance. Batiste's debut solo album, Hollywood Africans, was released by Verve Records in September 2018. "Don't Stop" served as the lead single. Leading up to the album release, he completed a Summer Festival tour across the U.S. with the Dap-Kings.
Batiste was cast in the HBO television series Treme, appearing as himself in seasons 2, 3, and 4. He was also cast as T.K. Hazelton in director Spike Lee's film, Red Hook Summer,[20] and he composed and performed the Hammond B-3 organ music that was a part of the film score. Other film scores composed by Batiste include the television documentary Duke 91 & 92: Back to Back and the short film Melody of Choice. He also appears in the films Da Sweet Blood of Jesus (2014) by Spike Lee and Thrive (2015) by Paul Szynol.
In 2005, Batiste began performing regularly in New York with his Juilliard peers, bassist Phil Kuehn and drummer Joe Saylor. He later added Eddie Barbash on alto saxophone and Ibanda Ruhumbika on tuba.[21] Batiste named the band Stay Human, which draws its moniker from the belief that human interaction during a live musical performance can uplift humanity in the midst of the "plug in, tune out" nature of modern society. The band leads impromptu street performances, which Batiste calls "love riots".[22] Notable artists were often seen accompanying Batiste, including Wynton Marsalis.[23]
In 2011, Stay Human released the album MY N.Y., which was recorded in its entirety on New York City Subway trains, an idea that came to Batiste after questioning how to connect with people.[24]
On April 22, 2017, the band played for the March for Science rally at the Washington Monument in Washington, D.C.[25][26]
In 2014, Batiste and Stay Human appeared on The Colbert Report to perform the group's single, "Express Yourself", written and produced with Austin Bis.
On the August 11, 2022, episode, Colbert announced that Batiste had decided he would not be returning to The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, in order to "pursue personal and professional interests".[27]
Juneteenth 2020 celebration
Batiste performs at Juneteenth.Batiste performs at Black Lives Matter rally at Barclays Center in 2020
In June 2020, Batiste took part in the Juneteenth celebration in Brooklyn, New York with a day of protests, marches, rallies, and vigils to "celebrate, show solidarity, and fight for equal rights and treatment of Black people.”[28] Performing on the steps of the Brooklyn Public Library, Batiste was joined by Matt Whitaker in a performance presented in partnership with Sing For Hope.[28]
The 2020 Juneteenth took place during the protests, following the murder of George Floyd, as well as the COVID-19 pandemic, seen by some as connected to an increase in an awareness of racial injustice.[29] When questioned as to the differences he sees in the present movement for change and its connection to music, Batiste responded by saying: "...music has always been something that has had all of the different purposes of our life and our community and our healing and our unspoken pain – and the transmission of messages and the raising awareness of a condition of a people. [...] What's different, now, is that it's much more widespread in the support of changing the systemic oppression that's been going on for 400 years." He believes, "Now, it's more important than ever for us to be reintroduced to what our ancestors used music for, because it's been forgotten. [...] The world, at large, sees music as entertainment. It's never been that, at its root. It is that in one element of it, but the entire spectrum of music is far, far deeper and wide-ranging."[30]
On March 19, 2021, Batiste released We Are, his fifth solo studio album. Speaking to Atwood Magazine, he described it as "a culmination of my life, to this point" and "the most representative of where I am, as a creative, and as an artist".[5]
In July 2021, Batiste released a live EP, Live at Electric Lady, performed in one day at Electric Lady Studios. The album was released, exclusively, to Spotify.[35]
In June 2023, Batiste announced a new album World Music Radio. A concept album, it was released on August 18, 2023. Some of the album's featured artists include Lana Del Rey, Lil Wayne, NewJeans, and JID. The album was also supported by a single, "Calling Your Name".[38]
American Symphony
On September 22, 2022, Batiste conducted the premiere of his composition American Symphony at Carnegie Hall, New York. A review in Variety concluded: "It wasn't just the story of America, and its collage-like charms and vices. This was also Batiste's story, and he made a handsome orchestral debut of that story at Carnegie Hall, in a truly shining hour."[39]
In 2023, Batiste was featured in the documentary film American Symphony, directed by Matthew Heineman, executive produced by Barack and Michelle Obama, which records the process of Batiste composing his first symphony, while his wife, Suleika Jaouad, suffers the return of her leukemia.[9]
Uneasy Tour and Streams
Batiste performing at the National Book Awards in 2024
During 2024, Batiste staged his Uneasy Tour, his first concert tour as a headlining act.[40]
Batiste followed these with a number of solo shows, billed as "STREAMS: Jon Batiste At The Piano", in which Batiste improvised performances at the piano and on melodica in a stream-of-consciousness manner.[41] A review in The Post-Standard characterized it as a "Modern maestro ... display[ing] his magic".[40]
In November 2024, Batiste performed at the National Book Awards in New York City as a musical guest.[42]
Music is a real form of connection to a higher power at its greatest; music was a form of community that brought people together and gave them a common purpose. Jazz is really a term that doesn't encompass what it's pointing at, [...] the intellectual breadth of black geniuses who were basically denied the credential of being a genius in society because of their skin tone. [...] We always talk about improvisation, and it really is one of the only forms of music that exemplifies the American experiment putting all these different cultures into one country and coexisting and trying to create beautiful music together.
— Jon Batiste, in Jon Batiste: So Much More Than Stephen Colbert's Music Director (Forbes)
Batiste was born into a family active in the struggle against racial segregation in the United States;[44] his grandfather, David Gauthier, was president of the Louisiana Postal Workers Union, involved in the 1968 labor strike sponsored by the Memphis, Tennessee, Department of Public Works for higher wages and safer working conditions.[46]
Batiste is married to journalist, musician, and best-selling author Suleika Jaouad. The two met as teenagers at band camp.[50] On April 3, 2022, the couple revealed, in an interview on CBS News Sunday Morning, that they had been married in a private ceremony at home, in February 2022.[51]
Raised in the Catholic Church, Batiste continues to identify as a Christian, and he has been outspoken about his faith.[52][53][54]
Batiste has received several accolades, including being placed in the 2016 Forbes 30 Under 30 music list,[89] and being named Grand Marshal of Endymion Parade in New Orleans in 2018.
He has been awarded the American Jazz Museum Lifetime Achievement Award, the Harry Chapin ASCAP Humanitarian Award and the Movado Future Legend Award. In May 2017, Batiste received an honorary degree from Salve Regina University for his musical achievements and contributions to Newport's 2014 International Jazz Day.[90] In 2018, he was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best American Roots Performance for "Saint James Infirmary Blues".[8] In 2020, he received two Grammy nominations: his album Chronology of a Dream: Live at the Village Vanguard was nominated for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album, and Meditations (with Cory Wong) was nominated for Best New Age Album.[8]
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