Jon Batiste: An Emblem of Music and Love

Jon Batiste is a composer, singer, pianist, and now recent winner of five Grammys at the 64th Annual Grammy Awards on April 3rd, including Album of the Year, which caught many off guard. But there was no reason for it to be staggering as he is a virtuoso in the world of music.

Jon Batiste was born in New Orleans in 1986 into the celebrated Batiste family of musicians, including the famous drummer “Uncle” Lionel Batiste. From pursuing his talent and passion for music, Batiste attended the prestigious Juilliard School at age seventeen, where he earned an undergraduate and masters for piano. From there, he formed the group Stay Human, which is now the official band at The Late Show with Stephen Colbert since 2015. In the band’s early years in New York City, they would walk out into the streets and subways from clubs to play jazz music outside, in addition to touring and performing to an international audience. Stay Human is also recognized for their “love riots,” where, as Batiste explained it, "there's love that's spread between everybody through the music, and it's sort of like a riot because we stop the street.” These musical marches endured and ignited especially during the Black Lives Matter movement and protests against police brutality in the summer of 2020, where Jon Batiste led a nonviolent protest established on a basis of music in Manhattan; numerous people played their instruments in the streets, where Sixth Avenue was even closed off by the march, for about 5,000 people sang and reveled in the music. 

However, the Grammy awards are not his only achievements; in addition, Batiste has earned an Oscar for Best Original Score in 2020 for the Disney Pixar movie Soul (in addition to a Golden Globe, NAACP image award, Critic’s Choice Award, and BAFTA for the soundtrack), making him the second Black musician to win an Academy Award for composing (Herbie Hancock being the first). In the spring of 2021, Batiste’s WE ARE album was released, the impressive winner of five Grammys this year amid a total of eleven nominations (three of which were for Soul). Among his musical accomplishments, Batiste’s career is expanding as he’s soon to venture into the acting realm in the 2023 film and musical adaptation of The Color Purple. To further share his appreciation of the arts, he educates and instills a love of music and jazz in large populations, Jon Batiste is the Artistic Director for the National Jazz Museum in Harlem as well. During an interview with the artist, when asked about how he accomplishes so much, Batiste responded with an admirable take on his lifestyle and career: “It’s interesting that you call [me] ‘productive’ – I don’t separate my life from my creative practice from my connection to the creator.” His love of music keeps him going, and Batiste’s virtuosity will live in music history for years to come

By Katie Leslie