John Batiste wears so many hats that he might need a closet for them all – recording artist, bandleader, music director, film composer, museum creative director and descendant of New Orleans music royalty
John Batiste wears so many hats that he might need a closet for them all – recording artist, bandleader, music director, film composer, museum creative director and descendant of New Orleans music royalty
John Batiste wears so many hats that he might need a closet for them all—recording artist, bandleader, music director, film composer, museum creative director, and descendant of New Orleans music royalty. The multi-instrumentalist won five Grammys on Sunday and despite being on TV all week, many people don’t fully know.
she’s got ‘soul’
Batiste composed, consulted, and arranged the music for the Pixar animated film “Soul”, a mid-life crisis film mixed with New York jazz fantasies and a body-swap comedy. She won a Golden Globe for a musical with Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross of Nine Inch Nails; And the trio also earned an Academy Award for Best Original Score. For their work on “Soul,” Batiste, Reznor and Ross won a Grammy for Best Score Soundtrack f or Visual Media on Sunday.
piano at night
Batiste toured globally with his band Stay Human and made a memorable stop on Comedy Central’s “The Colbert Report” in 2014. When the producers of “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” were considering forming a house band the following year, Batiste and Stay Human were a natural fit. The mutual respect Colbert and Batiste share is clear. The bandleader often hails the comedian’s nightly monologues from the piano, appears in sections and accompanies the musical guests. Batiste stuck with the gig even during the pandemic, with tunes, both the original and the cover, hitting the spot.
making melodious music
Recording since he was a teenager, Batiste’s albums include “Hollywood Africans”, produced by T Bone Burnett, “Anatomy of Angels: Live at the Village Vanguard” and “Meditations”, in collaboration with guitarist Corey Wong. Their album “Social Music” spent more than a month on the Billboard and iTunes jazz charts, and they also put together a pandemic benefit album, “Relief: A Benefit for the Jazz Foundation of America’s Musicians Relief Fund.” Their eighth album and Grammy breakthrough was 2021’s “We Are”, a sonic blow-out blending sometimes R&B, jazz, hip-hop, marching band and rock into a single song. He earned names in various categories like R&B, Jazz, American Roots, Classical, Music Video and Album of the Year. Batiste’s “American Symphony” is set to premiere at Carnegie Hall in May.
big Easy
Batiste was born into a long lineage of New Orleans musicians, including Batiste Brothers Band and brass band veterans Milton and “Uncle” Lionel Batiste. He played drums as a child before switching to piano at the age of 11. He is a graduate of the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts and the prestigious The Juilliard School. The music and culture of New Orleans is highlighted in Batiste’s “Freedom” video, which featured the band from St. Augustine High School, attended by Batiste, walking through the streets of the city. “John Battist has been a tremendous ambassador for Louisiana as an entertainer and a man who genuinely cares about the people of our great state,” Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards said Monday.
side hustle
Batiste became the first music director for The Atlantic magazine in 2017 and is co-creative director of the National Jazz Museum in Harlem. She has been featured in advertising campaigns for many fashion brands including Chase, Apple, Lincoln and Ralph Lauren, Barneys, Nordstrom and H&M. His song “Freedom” has been featured in the NCAA Tournament and served as the face of New Orleans ahead of Saturday night’s Final Four at the Caesars Superdome. He also had a role in Spike Lee’s 2012 film “Red Hook Summer” and appeared as himself in the HBO television series “Trem”. Batiste is literally the poster boy for the upcoming New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival.