Thread by @JonBatiste

The #WeAre story by @imaginewmarcus: When I first met Jon Batiste, he was dressed in a well tailored, bright yellow suit. He greeted everyone with a southern drawl, sang everyone’s name, hugged them as if meeting them were a cause for not only him but for the world to celebrate…

but I immediately perceived that there was something deeper, that those who were merely amused didn’t quite understand what they were seeing. Now that he has taken a prominent place in the fabric of American Culture, we all see a lot more of Jon. We see the Musical Director of…

Late Night with Stephen Colbert bringing jazz to national television. We see a march leader and advocate for justice alchemizing frustration and ennui into love through music. We see a Grammy nominated pianist bearing the blazing torch of Black Culture and lighting up clubs…

festivals, and films alike. But, from my time with Jon as a sideman, collaborator, and friend, I can tell you that if your perception of him ends with these laudable highlights of his career, you’ve still missed the best part: Seeing a real live creative genius up close. The…

word genius gets thrown around quite a bit these days like the polychromatic riffs of an Art Tatum recording. It is bestowed upon virtuoso artists, virtuoso capitalists, and others whose key virtue seems to be an ability to draw attention to themselves. So let me clarify what…

makes Jon’s gift so extraordinary: Consider that Batiste built the skeleton of this album in 6 days, with a Shure 57 Mic, in round-the-clock studio sessions recorded in his dressing room at the Ed Sullivan theater with a few collaborators, reminiscent of the process for the…

Jay-Z Album 4:44. At the same time he was appearing nightly on the Late Show, doing social advocacy work, recording what would become 2 grammy nominated jazz albums, and creating for “Soul”, one of the top films of 2020. Consider that this was, for Jon, light work. Since…

I’ve known him, he has always been hyperproductive with an unflagging energy characteristic of remarkable people. What distinguishes Jon is that his gifts aren’t confined to his prodigious instrumental and vocal talent, or encyclopedic knowledge of music history. Jon’s unique…

gift is in perceiving disparate cultural currents from the past and present, and using them to shape his body of work, and ultimately, culture itself. His gift has borne fruit yet again with his upcoming album “WE ARE.”The concept for this album has been marinating in Jon’s…

head since 2014 at least. At this time he and I would write together, making laptop demos in his apartment, green rooms, hotel rooms, and flights, and eventually full blown tracks in lock out sessions at Electric Lady Studios. The essential ingredients for this album were…

assembled then: the desire to bring the essence of jazz beyond its traditional audience, draw from the rich musical heritage of New Orleans, and speak to the universal needs of a healthy culture, including singing together, socializing across generations, and celebrating…

a variety of traditions and perspectives. “The greats always had a lot on their mind that they were able to process into their music. Their genius was in their ability to capture it all and simplify it, so there is a universal quality to it that can be accessed by millions, but…

if you listen and study closely, there is an extensive depth to it.” Jon said. These sessions were put on hold until 2020 due to several factors including the demands of the Colbert Show (which Jon joined in 2015), the abrupt shift of social and political climate in 2016, and…

the influx of new resources, wider base of connections, and expanded artistic reach Jon cultivated in this time. The wait, however, actually served to complete the artistic picture. 6 years of simmering brought out the key flavors of the concept, and allowed Jon to incorporate…

a final ingredient, the spirit of our historic times, truly universalizing the original ideas. Work started again in late 2019 with the help of @AutumnRoweMusic and @kizzomusic. They formed the nucleus of the legendary 6 day session in which the initial drafts of the album…

were recorded in Jon’s dressing room in Ed Sullivan theater. A quote attributed to Hemingway is “Write drunk, edit sober.”Since Jon doesn’t drink, I would have to describe his process as “Write in flight, edit in a hole.” His creative power is marked by his ability to take alm…

-ost any idea, expand on it, and generate something meaningful. Melodic fragments, bass lines, vocal shouts and riffs turned into irresistible songs, part by part, with few missteps or retakes. The whole studio session felt like a meta-improvisation of Jon playing…

several instruments (he’s playing about 12 on this album), rapping, singing, shouting, and chanting to convey a story. The drafts were outwardly about his experience as a young man, the sights, the sounds, the smells, the feelings, the impressions. Yet as personal as these…

tracks were, they were all conceived with Jon’s sense of fun and freedom and inclusivity. It was clear from the start that he wanted the music to translate universally: from the club to the brass band, festival stage to community singalong. Over the subsequent 9 months, Jon…

masterfully composed a project with the care and meticulousness of a Ferrari engineer, guided by his precinct, expansive, and associative intellect. Writing, travelling, painting, and inviting some of the most esteemed creatives to assist in birthing the album, he led the team…

to the finish line smack in the middle of the first wave of the worldwide pandemic and volatile social unrest. At the end, they had finished a masterpiece of Black Pop Music that had the consciousness of Marvin Gaye, the grounded optimism of Stevie Wonder, the iconoclasm Thelo-

-nious Monk, and the swagger of Mannie Fresh. On March 19th, 2021 Jon will present a captivating musical experience to the world rooted in catharsis, joy, freedom, contemplation and sensuality. Thematically, it is a rendering of boyhood, manhood, identity, politics, and love…

that speaks to a way of being which offers everyone dignity…which, in a sense, invites us all to Stay Human. Culturally, it’s a love letter to his southern roots and the heritage of Black Music with guest appearances by Mavis Staples, Quincy Jones, Zadie Smith, PJ Morton…

Trombone Shorty, St. Augustine Marching 100, his father Michael Batiste, grandfather David Gauthier and many more. Musically, it is an adventure steeped in the sounds of the times with collaborators including POMO, Ricky Reed, Jahaan Sweet and others. Spiritually, it is a…

message of love for humanity, of humble reverence for our past, and of a hopeful future in which We Are the ones who can save us. As Jon says. “The art reveals its motive to you. You just have to wait for the Spirit to tell you what it wants.”

the WE ARE story by @imaginewmarcus