When you hear the name Batiste, and you're talking about music, you immediately know you are in for a treat. Of the newer generation with the traditional music values, Jon Batiste and Stay Human continue to bring that soulful Louisiana sound to audiences across the country. They will appear on Saturday at The Sheldon Concert Hall.
Jonathan is a member of a long lineage of musicians from the Batiste family of Louisiana. He was introduced to music by his family's band, the Batiste Brothers Band, in which he played percussion/drums in at age 8. He switched to piano around the age of 12.
By the age of 17, he released his first of his two CDs as a leader entitled "Times In New Orleans" featuring New Orleans musicians including Jason Marsalis, Donald Harrison Jr. and Christian Scott. By then he was already attracting considerable attention as a young musician of great talent and potential. A member of New Orleans Center for Creative Arts (NOCCA) along with Trombone Shorty he graduated in 2004 and was a primer young performer. He then went on to study at the prestigious Juilliard School in New York.
In 2005 Batiste began performing regularly around the New York music scene with his trio, including bassist Phil Kuehn and drummer Joe Saylor. They first met in 2004. A few years later he recruited Eddie Barbash on alto saxophone and sometime after that Ibanda Ruhumbika on tuba. Batiste has toured extensively with this quintet in recent years and has named this band "Stay Human". They all attended Juilliard together.
Jonathan and his band are particularly known for actively engaging with audiences in an effort to create greater accessibility to and appreciation for the art of live music. The band draws its moniker from the belief that the human interaction of a live musical performance can uplift humanity in the midst of the "plug in/tune out" nature of modern day society. Either on tour or during time off, the band can be seen spontaneously playing in non traditional venues and starting impromptu demonstrations through the streets which Jon and the band have termed as "Love Riots".[5] 2011 saw the release of another self-produced CD entitled "MY NY". The album was recorded entirely within the NYC subway system across numerous impromptu performances.
In recent years he has been cast in the HBO television series "Treme (TV series)" and appears in seasons 2 and 3. He was also cast as Da Organist T.K. Hazelton in director Spike Lee's film "Red Hook Summer".[6] In the film he composed and performed all of the Hammond B-3 organ music that was a part of the film score. He has done film scores as well including the T.V. documentary "Duke 91 & 92: Back To Back" and the short film "Melody Of Choice".[7]
Who: Jon Batiste and Stay Human
When: January 18
Where Sheldon Concert Hall
Tickets: www.metrotix.com
Venue website: www.sheldonconcerthall.com
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