Jon Batiste speaks with the fluidity with which he plays, never straying too far from joy. The American musician and composer talks about his first-ever trip to India this November with unguarded excitement.
“India is singular,” he says. “The culture is very much one where there’s a deep authenticity, truth and beauty. It reminds me of a quality that I grew up with in New Orleans, Louisiana. From the music to the food to the architecture to the dancing. It really is almost like you’re going from through a portal into a new world.”
For the multi-Grammy-winning musician, whose career has carried him from Juilliard to the Academy Awards, India also represents a return to an old memory. “I’ve never really shared this story, but everyone who knows me and my family is aware of this. One of my father’s friends and our neighbour was born in India. He moved to Louisiana. And he would always share with us in the community different things about Indian culture. One time, when I was about seven or eight years old, he had a tabla there. He wasn’t a musician, but he would still play, or he would have other people come in to play. That’s something I’ve always appreciated while growing up.”
Cross-border collaboration
It’s not surprising that an exposure to Indian music was somewhere in his foundation. He has always looked outward, listening across traditions. When asked about influences, he reels off familiar names like the late Ustad Zakir Hussain and Ravi Shankar, and then adds, “There’s a musician, his name is Lydian.” He’s referring to Lydian Nadhaswaram, the 20-year-old Tamilian pianist from Chennai who shot to global attention as a child prodigy, winning The World’s Best talent show in 2019 with dazzling feats of speed and dexterity at the keyboard. “I’ve been in touch with him and I’ve listened to his music. I’m excited to figure out different musicians; maybe I can collaborate with him and others.”
Collaboration has been a Jon Batiste throughline. He has worked with practically every influential name under the sun, including Alicia Keys, Stevie Wonder, Prince, Willie Nelson, Lenny Kravitz, ASAP Rocky, Ed Sheeran, Lana Del Rey, Roy Hargrove, Juvenile, and Mavis Staples, to name a few. “Everybody is different. I learn from everyone whom I get to collaborate with,” he says. “The way that you make a collaboration great is by doing something that’s authentic within you that brings out the best in another person. And then they’re doing something authentic within them that brings out a side of you. You both create something that you wouldn’t have if you were by yourself.”
Jon Batiste
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement
That spirit carried him into one of his most acclaimed projects that won him an Oscar, a Golden Globe Award, a BAFTA, and yet another Grammy — Pixar’s Soul, where he shared composing duties with Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. The contrast between the Nine Inch Nails legends’ ambient electronics and his free-flowing jazz could not have been sharper, but it worked beautifully. “It was just about serving the story,” Jon recalls. “We had the story as the foundation. Sometimes those worlds would blend where spirits and souls from The Great Beyond (the realm of the afterlife in Soul) would be on Earth. We discovered even better ways to do it, but you always have to start with some sort of structure with collaboration so that people know what to bring to the party.”
Beethoven and beyond
Jon has also been reframing the canon with his 2024 project Beethoven Blues. “It’s of the highest musical and human achievements,” he says of Beethoven’s music. “But if we frame it in one way all the time as European music, or as music that is only meant for a certain type of performance in a certain environment, then we’re not seeing the fullness of it. Greatness becomes. The more singular something is, the more it becomes universal for all. And that’s what’s beautiful about discovering. If you’re listening to Beethoven one way and discovering how African it is, it teaches you about the greatness of African music and rhythm and the connection of that to all music.”
When pressed on fantasy collaborations, he veers instinctively to legendary jazz pianist Duke Ellington. “Maybe to see Duke perform with Michael Jackson.”
Playful roots
The more serious the subject, the more likely Jon is to balance it with play. He speaks with equal fondness about his early days transcribing video game soundtracks like Street Fighter and Final Fantasy, and says he still finds time to game. “All the time, I was just gaming yesterday,” he says, almost mischievously. “Sometimes you got to play the scores. I recorded moments from Green Hill Zone from Sonic the Hedgehog on my album.”
When asked about jazz on screen, his picks are eclectic. “I really like Spike Lee’s Mo’ Better Blues. I like the way that they incorporated the music into Birdman. I also like the different documentaries [on jazz]. There’s a documentary on Thelonius Monk called Straight, No Chaser. I used to watch it ALL THE TIME.”
Jon Batiste
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement
What ties it all together — New Orleans, gospel, Juilliard, videogames, Beethoven, India — is the conviction that music is a language that cuts deeper. His answers are threaded with that idea, that everything harmonises because it all lives within him. “They always harmonise because it’s the genre of Jon Batiste,” he says. “Everything connects because it’s all within me.”
Before the conversation ends, he jots down a recommendation I offered to him: a special Japanese anime about jazz called Blue Giant. He seems genuinely delighted. “Blue Giant. Yeah, I’ll check it out.”
Jon Batiste will perform live at the Plenary Hall in Delhi’s Bharat Mandapam on November 24, and in Mumbai on November 26. The concerts have been produced and promoted by BookMyShow Live
Published – October 01, 2025 07:33 pm IST
