Jon Batiste inspires a crowd, but he says he gets his energy from them too.
"More than any living artist I've ever experienced, Jon is the master of call and response. ... People think they're going to a concert to watch him, but it's an invitation to join," wrote Priya Parker in recent a review of one of Batiste's shows in New York where he was joined on stage by his wife, Suleika Jaouad, the Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and inspiration for his song "Butterfly."
Just last year the couple were the focus of a documentary "American Symphony," in which Batiste is composing a symphonic work to be performed at Carnegie Hall and is nominated for 11 Grammys. In the same week Jaouad discovers the leukemia she battled a decade earlier has returned.
It was his wife who first shared the quote about her husband's inviting show, where she joined him on stage when he sang her song.
Batiste says that his wife is doing great as she receives treatment.
"She's really blessed to have a really, really high level of energy and health right now," he says. When we speak, he's fresh off his first performance at this year's Coachella music festival and is getting ready for the next weekend of shows before picking back up his "UNEASY" Tour that has been selling out venues across the country.
He relates that a friend told him that to call his life a roller coaster is to insult the roller coaster, and he laughs.
For Batiste the ride has been an exciting one. He was born into a well-known New Orleans musical family that includes clarinetist Alvin Batiste, Lionel Batiste of The Treme Brass Band, Milton Batiste of the Olympia Brass Band and David Russell Batiste Jr. of The Funky Meters and Vida Blue. Jon's father played bass for Isaac Hayes and Jackie Wilson on the "Chitlin' Circuit" throughout the 1960-70s.
Jon started playing drums with the family band as a child and moved up to piano at 11. By 13, he was performing professionally with Trombone Shorty, and after high school he went to Juilliard, where he earned both a graduate and undergraduate degree in piano. He scored a gig on "The Colbert Show" and so impressed Stephen Colbert that the host asked Batiste be his band leader on "The Late Show," where Batiste played piano from 2015 to 2022.
During that time, Batiste composed and performed music for the Disney/Pixar film "Soul" with Trent Reznor (Nine Inch Nails). The two won an an Academy Award for Best Original Score. "Soul" also earned Batiste a Golden Globe, a BAFTA, a NAACP Image Award, and a Critic's Choice Award.
He also released the albums "Chronology of a Dream: Live at the Village Vanguard," "Meditations," and 2021's "WE ARE."
He's just released a genre-defying album, "World Music Radio," where Batiste acts as a cosmic DJ who fuses multiple styles of music with multiple collaborators including K-pop and Colombian pop stars alongside major American artists like John Bellion, Lil' Wayne and Lana Del Rey.
He adds that Del Ray actually texted him when she was in Arkansas.
"She was texting me about the love she felt there and how multi-generational [the crowd] was. She was pleasantly surprised," he adds. The two have collaborated on songs for each other's albums and surprised the crowds at Coachella by performing together.
Batiste will have two days off before opening the Live on the Green series April 23 at The Momentary. The rest is necessary to generate inspiration with so many life events happening.
"It takes a lot out of me, and I have to have the balance of taking time off to do the refueling of inspiration," he says, adding that creating that unforgettable experience of live music energizes him as well.
"That gives me energy as much as it takes a lot of energy," he concludes.
After his concert in Bentonville, Batiste will head back to New Orleans. Since Cajun food is so delicious, we had to ask what he was looking forward to when he gets home.
"Gumbo. Always gumbo! [And] red beans and rice!"
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FAQ
Jon Batiste:
UNEASY Tour
WHEN -- 7 p.m. April 23
WHERE -- The Momentary in Bentonville
COST -- $25 to $200
INFO -- themomentary.org
Jon Batiste and his wife Suleika Jaouad, Emmy award-winning journalist and New York Times' bestselling author. The couple were the subject the documentary, “American Symphony,” which premiered at the 2023 Telluride Film Festival. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)