Jon Batiste

Jonathan Michael Batiste (born November 11, 1986) is an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, bandleader, composer, and television personality.

He has recorded and performed with artists including Stevie Wonder, Prince, Willie Nelson, Lenny Kravitz, Ed Sheeran, Lana Del Rey, Roy Hargrove, Juvenile, and Mavis Staples.

He attended St. Augustine High School and New Orleans Center for Creative Arts with Trombone Shorty in New Orleans and graduated in 2004.

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.

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".

Notable artists were often seen accompanying Batiste, including Wynton Marsalis.

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.

In 2007, Batiste made his debut at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam at the age of 20, 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.

The performance concluded with a finale he composed for choir, jazz combo and orchestral instruments.

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.

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.

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 2014, Batiste and Stay Human appeared on The Colbert Report to perform the group's single "Express Yourself", written and produced with Austin Bis.

Batiste, with his band Stay Human, appeared nightly as bandleader and musical director on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert from 2015 to 2022.

Batiste also serves as the music director of The Atlantic and the Creative Director of the National Jazz Museum in Harlem.

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 notable career performances include a tribute to Chuck Berry and Fats Domino during the 60th annual Grammy Awards (performing alongside Gary Clark Jr..); the Kennedy Center Honors' tribute to Carmen De Lavallade; the Concert for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Alabama; the National Anthem at the 2017 NBA All Star Game; and Opening Night of the 2017 US Open.

He has curated the Global Citizen Advocacy Concert with Tom Morello and the Louis Armstrong Wonderful World Festival in Queens, N.Y.

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 and 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 by Spike Lee and Thrive by Paul Szynol.

On April 22, 2017, the band played for the March for Science rally at the Washington Monument in Washington, D.C.

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's cover of "St. James Infirmary Blues" was nominated for a Grammy in 2019, in the category of Best American Roots Performance.

In 2020, he co-composed the score for the Pixar animated film Soul, for which he received an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a Grammy Award and a BAFTA Film Award (all shared with Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross).

Batiste has garnered 5 Grammy Awards from 20 nominations, including an Album of the Year win for his album We Are (2021).

In 2023, Batiste featured in the documentary film American Symphony which records the process of Batiste composing his first symphony.

Jon Batiste was born in Metairie, Louisiana, to a Catholic family.

He grew up in Kenner, Louisiana.

Batiste is a member of a New Orleans musical dynasty, the Batiste family, that includes Lionel Batiste of the Treme Brass Band, Milton Batiste of the Olympia Brass Band, and Russell Batiste Jr.. At the age of 8, he played percussion and drums with his family's band, the Batiste Brothers Band.

At the age of 11, he switched to piano at his mother's suggestion and took classical piano lessons from local piano teacher, Shirley Herstein, every Saturday from ages 11 to 18.

Batiste further developed his piano skills by transcribing songs from video games such as Street Fighter Alpha, Final Fantasy VII and Sonic the Hedgehog.

At 17, Batiste released his debut album Times in New Orleans.