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Jon Batiste Brings Music to ‘Late Show’ and Streets of NYC – WSJ






Jon Batiste Brings Music to ‘Late Show’ and Streets of NYC – WSJ


 
 

Jon Batiste Brings Music to ‘Late Show’ and Streets of NYC

 
By 

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Jon Batiste and Stay Human play an impromptu show at a bus stop on First Avenue in New York City. Ramsay de Give for The Wall Street Journal

Jon Batiste and Stay Human play an impromptu show in New York City on June 8. Here, at the corner of 14th Street and Third Avenue. Ramsay de Give for The Wall Street Journal

Jon Batiste and band Stay Human make their way down First Avenue in New York City on June 8. Ramsay de Give for The Wall Street Journal

Jon Batiste and band Stay Human play inside a laundry shop in New York City on June 8. Ramsay de Give for The Wall Street Journal

Jon Batiste and Stay Human playing in New York City. Ramsay de Give for The Wall Street Journal

Jon Batiste dances while playing a show with his band Stay Human in New York City. Ramsay de Give for The Wall Street Journal

Jon Batiste and band Stay Human make their way down First Avenue in New York City. Ramsay de Give for The Wall Street Journal

Jon Batiste and Stay Human stop at a newsstand as they play an impromptu show in New York City. Ramsay de Give for The Wall Street Journal

Jon Batiste and Stay Human stop at a bus stop on First Avenue. Ramsay de Give for The Wall Street Journal

Jon Batiste and David Barnes of Stay Human play on the streets of New York City on June 8. Ramsay de Give for The Wall Street Journal

Members of Stay Human Eddie Barbash, Marcus Miller, and Grace Kelly play an impromptu show in New York City on June 8. Ramsay de Give for The Wall Street Journal

Jon Batiste and Stay Human play an impromptu show at a bus stop on First Avenue in New York City. Ramsay de Give for The Wall Street Journal

Jon Batiste and Stay Human play an impromptu show in New York City on June 8. Here, at the corner of 14th Street and Third Avenue. Ramsay de Give for The Wall Street Journal

By

Larry Blumenfeld

June 19, 2015 3:02 p.m. ET

Squinting in the midday sun at Union Square Park on June 8, Jon Batistepicked up his melodica, the mouth-blown reed instrument and keyboard that he calls a “harmonaboard.” As a small but enthusiastic crowd formed, he began a loosely swinging version of “My Favorite Things” with members of his Stay Human band playing instruments including tuba and tambourine. 

Little about that scene suggested Stephen Colbert’s announcement five days earlier that, when he takes over as host of CBS ’s “Late Show” on Sept. 8, the 28-year-old Mr. Batiste will be his bandleader. 

As Mr. Batiste led his band and followers in a procession across Irving Place, storming a newsstand and a dry cleaner, leaving befuddled shopkeepers in his wake, questions emerged: Was he channeling the second-line parade spirit of New Orleans, where he came of age musically? (Yes.) Was he stealing from David Letterman’s playbook? (Possibly.) Was this a network publicity stunt? (No.)

Mr. Batiste, whose primary instrument is piano, was mostly extending the strategy he devised shortly after moving to Manhattan in 2004 to study at the Juilliard School: organizing “love riots” on streets and in subways to refine what he calls “social music.” Much of his 2011 “My N.Y” EP was recorded on a moving A train.

The concept grew largely from his experiences as artistic director-at-large for the National Jazz Museum, said Mr. Batiste. He will flesh it out further during a week-long residency at Manhattan’s NoMad Hotel beginning June 23 that includes dance parties, children’s clinics and dinners hosted by celebrity chefs.

Mr. Batiste isn’t the first jazz musician raised in Kenner, La., and trained at the celebrated New Orleans Center for Creative Arts to hit late-night TV. He follows in the footsteps of saxophonist Branford Marsalis, who was Jay Leno’s “Tonight Show” bandleader from 1992 to 1995. 

Mr. Batiste spoke with the Journal recently about his June residency and his new TV role.

WSJ: Why hole up in the NoMad Hotel for a week?

JB: My band recently toured for nine months straight. I started thinking about how to cultivate a lasting bond beyond just a good show. I came up with the idea of residencies—not just performing, but doing other stuff to develop a real “social music” experience spread out over a week or more. NoMad is the first example, different each day.

WSJ: What do you mean by “social music”?

JB: I mean “social” in the biggest sense—a spirit of togetherness and community at a time when things have become more synthetic and virtual. It’s about not concentrating on the genre, but on the intent of the music and about connecting to the uplifting things in everyday life that keep you human.

I also think of social justice. Music is glue, and it’s also a catalyst for action. If my generation is coming together like none other, there has to be a soundtrack to that.

 

Jon Batiste and Stay Human

WSJ: What led you to these ideas?

JB: I guess it started with my dad [bassist Michael Batiste] and continued in my early teens at the Satchmo jazz camp in New Orleans, where I studied with Alvin Batiste. [The late clarinetist and educator is a distant cousin.] It flowered in New York City. 

WSJ: When you began playing in subways, how did that go over at Juilliard?

JB: They thought we were crazy. But I was doing it for an artistic reason. Jazz performances can seem esoteric, like an experiment or a recital. We weren’t passing a hat around or practicing, either. We were playing at the highest level we can—and doing it 2 feet from your face, right where you live.

WSJ: Won’t “The Late Show” force you to give up on residencies and “love riots”?

JB: We’ll see what I can get away with. But music is like a newspaper. Every single day something is happening. Every day you’re changing. So having this structure five nights a week will give us a chance to develop repertoire in completely new ways. Starting September, “The Late Show” is the residency. 

WSJ: Why are you and Colbert a good team, and what is your role?

JB: From my first interview on “The Colbert Report,” Stephen and I had an instant rapport. We are aligned on a lot of things, especially the idea that it’s not just about entertainment. There’s a more profound level to what he’s doing that may even go over some people’s heads. 

Stephen is whip-smart and he’s one of the best improvisers I’ve ever worked with. He reminded me that he started at Second City, which is to improv and comedy what New Orleans is to music. 

I think I’ll be cast next to him as sort of a cool, young, hip and well-dressed counterpart. Because he’s so smart and sarcastic, I’ll come across as super laid-back, almost baffled or bedazzled in certain moments. 

WSJ: Who’s your first call to a musician for “The Late Show”?

JB: Oh, that’s a long list. Maybe Kendrick Lamar.

WSJ: And if you can raise a musician from the dead?

JB: Another long list, but let’s go with Louis Armstrong.

 

 
 

Jim Eigo Jazz Promo Services T: 845-986-1677 E-Mail: jim@jazzpromoservices.com
http://www.jazzpromoservices.com

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