Jon Batiste

Jon Batiste is an American musician, bandleader and television personality from Kenner, Louisiana. He works across jazz and soul, and his activity also spans rhythm and blues and related popular styles. He records under Naht Jona, LLC and Jon Batiste Publishing Designee.

Early life and training

Born in 1986 into a family of musicians, Batiste starts out on percussion and drums with the Batiste Brothers Band at the age of 8. He later switches to piano at 11 on his mother’s suggestion. He develops his keyboard playing through classical lessons and by transcribing music from video games including Street Fighter Alpha, Final Fantasy VII and Sonic the Hedgehog.

He attends the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts with Trombone Shorty and graduates in 2004. He then studies at the Juilliard School, where he earns both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree.

Recording career

Batiste begins releasing recordings in 2005 with Times in New Orleans. His early albums include Live in New York: At the Rubin Museum of Art (2006), In the Night (2008) and The Amazing Jon Batiste! (2009). He continues with MY N.Y. in 2011, released with Stay Human, followed by Social Music in 2013, also with Stay Human, and The Process in 2014 with Chad Smith and Bill Laswell.

He releases The Late Show EP and Christmas with Jon Batiste in 2016, then Music of Johny Lewis in 2017 with Wynton Marsalis. His debut solo album, Hollywood Africans, arrives on Verve Records in 2018, with “Don’t Stop” as its lead single. In 2022, We Are wins Album of the Year at the Grammy Awards.

Stay Human and television work

In 2005, Batiste begins performing regularly in New York with Juilliard peers Phil Kuehn and Joe Saylor, later joined by Eddie Barbash and Ibanda Ruhumbika. He names the group Stay Human. The band is known for impromptu street performances, which he calls “love riots”, and for recording MY N.Y. on New York City subway trains.

Stay Human appears on The Colbert Report in 2014 and is announced in 2015 as the house band for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Batiste appears nightly on the programme as bandleader and musical director. He also appears in the HBO series Treme, in Spike Lee’s film Red Hook Summer, and in the films Thrive and the short film Melody of Choice. He composes and performs Hammond B-3 organ music for Red Hook Summer, and he also composes for the documentary Duke 91 & 92: Back to Back.

Collaborations, performances and other roles

Batiste records and performs with artists including Stevie Wonder, Prince, Willie Nelson, Lenny Kravitz, Ed Sheeran and Mavis Staples. He performs in more than 40 countries and appears with Stay Human alongside Billy Joel, Will Smith, Wynton Marsalis, John Legend, Grace Vanderwaal and Nas on The Late Show.

His notable performances include tributes to Chuck Berry and Fats Domino at the 60th Grammy Awards with Gary Clark Jr., a tribute to Carmen De Lavallade at the Kennedy Center Honors, the Concert for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Alabama, the national anthem at the 2017 NBA All-Star Game, and the opening night of the 2017 US Open. He curates the Global Citizen Advocacy Concert with Tom Morello and the Louis Armstrong Wonderful World Festival in Queens, New York.

He is Music Director of The Atlantic and Creative Director of the National Jazz Museum in Harlem. He also works with campaigns for Chase Bank, Apple Watch and Lincoln Continental, and with fashion brands including Ralph Lauren, Barneys, Nordstrom, Frye Boots and Bonobos.

Awards and recognition

Batiste appears on the 2016 Forbes 30 Under 30 music list. He receives the American Jazz Museum Lifetime Achievement Award, the Harry Chapin ASCAP Humanitarian Award and the Movado Future Legend Award. In 2017, he receives an honorary degree from Salve Regina University for his musical work and his contribution to Newport’s International Jazz Day. In 2018, he is named Grand Marshal of the Endymion Parade in New Orleans.

Other ensembles

He is associated with the Late Show Band, the Jonathan Batiste Trio and the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra, in addition to Stay Human.