This year’s Grammy Awards looked very different for Jon Batiste than they did two years ago, when he nearly swept the 2022 ceremony for his powerhouse jazz/R&B/soul pop fusion record, “We Are.”
Though it was a real underdog for album of the year, it got the award anyway, besting even Taylor Swift, and further putting the New Orleans-reared music man on the map — just as he was stepping out of the shadows of being the “Late Show with Stephen Colbert” bandleader and finding mainstream recognition, particularly after the success of his music for the 2020 animated film “Soul.”
So, the fact that Batiste walked away empty-handed during the 2024 ceremony after his latest masterpiece, the conceptual and collaborative “World Music Radio,” was nominated and lost six times was a shocker if there ever was one. Yet, the 37-year-old musician still believes, “We won.”
He posted as much on X not long after the Feb. 4 telecast, alongside photos and videos with wife Suleika Jaouad, whose presence was the real victory. The acclaimed writer missed being with her husband on the red carpet the first time while she was battling a recurrence of leukemia.
“We didn’t know throughout all this time whether she was even going to make it … so if you can just imagine the person you love most in the world by your side after going through the hardest times you’ve ever had, that’s what the Grammys were like for me,” Batiste shared with the Sun-Times in a recent interview.
The highs and lows Batiste has experienced the past few years have been nothing short of a Charles Dickens quote, yet even in the best and worst times he has managed to survive — much like he always does — through the power of music. “I’ve always believed in music to change your life and to change the lives of other people, but music and creativity as an act of survival is a lesson we took from this,” Batiste said, “it was a way for us to convene in some of the darkest times.”
That stance is a theme of the couple’s Netflix documentary “American Symphony,” released last November, that follows their contrasting journey, juxtaposing Batiste working on his first symphony for Carnegie Hall at the same time Jaouad gets the news about her health. The film was co-produced by the Obamas’ production company, Higher Ground, with Batiste falling into a quick friendship with the former president and first lady; Barack has also featured Batiste’s songs on several of the curated playlists he shares on social media every year.
“There are certain people who have an impact on you before you meet them,” Batiste shared of the former Chicago couple. “But I didn’t predict how much more of an impact it would be after getting to know them as people, it really emboldens how special they are. Now we have this incredible friendship that’s come from years of me being influenced by their marriage from afar.”
A song from “American Symphony,” called “It Never Went Away,” is nominated for best original song at the Oscars on March 10.
“It’s one of those gifts of integrating your career with the values of your humanity. The gift of living in a way that’s aligned with your profession; sometimes the things that inspire you the most come from the things that mean the most to you. It’s so non-contrived, so when people respond to that, and have it recognized in the highest way, is so pure,” said Batiste, adding, “I do everything for my family.”
His devotion was clear during the in memoriam segment of this year’s Grammys, in which Batiste insisted on paying homage to his late cousin, accomplished drummer Russell Batiste Jr., who passed away last fall.
Russell is yet another force in the incredible music dynasty the younger Batiste hails from, his elders encouraging the budding talent to start on the piano and find his musical footing at just 8 years old. Today, the Juilliard-trained Batiste is proficient on 12 instruments and has a voracious appetite for exploring all facets of music, which has resulted in crafting expressive compositions that have spanned the realms of music, film, TV, and culture in general. His works (including seven studio albums) have led to Batiste being named to Forbes’ to 30 Under 30 list, being called one of Time’s 100 most influential people and serving as The Atlantic’s music director and creative director for Harlem-based National Jazz Museum. This month, Batiste is embarking on another feat, his first-ever headline trek, which heads to the Riviera for a sold-out show Feb. 24. Batiste hopes the Uneasy Tour brings all his journey together and serves a larger purpose to bring people together.
“We want to show everybody the full range of Batiste-land on this tour … and show that there’s a range of what a performance can be,” he asserted. “We wanted it to be an intimate run this time … to be amongst the people, to feel the energy. This is a huge election year this year and I think that this show is kind of like a campaign for humanity, it’s a campaign for artistry, it’s a campaign for joy and optimism, no matter what life throws at you.”
