Sitting on a bench in front of a beautiful black piano somewhere on the outskirts of New York, musician Jon Batiste took some time out to speak to about three pages of press via Zoom to share some insight on his upcoming album, “We Are.” Batiste shared that the title came from reflecting on the current status of the world, saying, “a lot of times we wait and look around for the answer, when actually we are.” Of the album, Jon says it is genre-less, calling it a “black pop masterpiece.” He describes one of the early singles, “Cry” as a reclamation of folk music.
Born in November 1987, Jon Batiste was born into a musical family in New Orleans. At the age of 17, he moved to New York City where he studied at Julliard. It was his time there that really exposed him to a wider range of music. Interestingly enough, Jon says that when it came to his career, he always followed his curiosity, never having a set plan; only pursuing things that intrigued him. Such pursuit brought him to currently being the musical director on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, of which he shared a series of situations in which one night he went from speaking backstage with Kendrick Lamar to the following night having to learn a piece of music to perform live with Yo-Yo Ma all within the span of 25 minutes.
Being an outspoken advocate for social justice, Jon says that his roles as an activist and musician fall under the same umbrella of being a human all while trying to be the best version of himself. While speaking with us, he mentioned the role that music can play in social advocacy because, “music changes the way people’s emotions and thoughts happen.” He cited moments like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. marching alongside bands and singers in the 60’s and how that sparks the idea that music is a social glue.
Throughout the press conference Batiste shared so much knowledge with us, not just on being a musician, but on being human. “We Are” comes out March 19th, 2021 everywhere you listen to music.
Listen to our conversation about the press conference on our new segment, Patched In:
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