The pain and glory of Jon Batiste, the new world beacon of black music

Musician Jon Batiste, in a promotional image for 2022.Universal Music Group

No se sabe con precisión en qué momento apareció el jazz, fruto de una mezcla de culturas y géneros en un proceso de varios años, pero sí se sabe que fue en Nueva Orleans, a finales del XIX. Un siglo más tarde, en el suburbio de Metairie, el más poblado de la ciudad, nació Jon Batiste (35 años, Luisiana), en el seno de la mayor familia de músicos de la zona. Se empapó de musicalidad, recogió el testigo y ahora es él quien representa uno de los principales estandartes del jazz no solo a nivel familiar, también para el público de masas. Y ese camino le trajo donde se encuentra hoy: en menos de un año ha ganado un Oscar y un Globo de Oro en 2021 por la banda sonora de Soul y cinco Grammy en 2022, entre ellos mejor álbum por su último trabajo, We Are.

Also in recent months, he has been engaged to his lifelong partner, Suleika Jaouad, one day before she received her bone marrow transplant after being diagnosed with leukemia for the second time.

A journey of pain and glory that he always faces in the only way he knows how: with music, faith and vitality.

When at dawn in Spain on April 3 Batiste took the stage to collect the most important Grammy of the night, his expression gave him away.

He couldn't believe it, he had imposed himself on Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga and Billie Eilish among others, kings of world pop radio.

But he doesn't think his music is better or worse than the rest, just different.

And so he made it known as soon as he approached the microphone: “You know what?

I believe in my heart that there is no such thing as the best musician, the best artist, the best dancer or the best actor.

The creative arts are subjective and reach people at a time in their lives when they need it most.

It is as if a song or an album were made and they had a radar to find the person when they need it most.

Batiste is happy for the award, but he is even more so for how he has achieved it and for what it means for his roots: “I feel like I have brought the whole world with me, and a large part of the album is thanks to the fact that I grew up in a community amazing.

It features my grandfather, my 7 and 13 year old nephews, my high school marching band, my childhood friends, Trombone Shorty, PJ Morton, the Hot 8 Brass Band… All these people from New Orleans are now winners of the Grammy, and these are things that do not always happen.

So having been able to reach this level to spread our culture in this way pushes me to stay humble.”

He has managed to close the circle in his city, the same place where he started.

His father had a band together with his six uncles, the Batiste Brothers Band

which permeated both little Jon and his 30 cousins.

As they grew and grew, they joined the family band.

Jon did it since he was eight years old, on drums, and if he already had tables, he ended up becoming a virtuoso, especially on piano and melodica.

His jazz teacher, Michael Polera, described him on

as a unique student: “It didn't matter what you taught him, he learned it perfectly and then said: 'Now what?'

After two years he had nothing more to teach her.”

Batiste admits that the person he is today has to do with having been the youngest of the family for many years: “They always took great care of me.

I was quiet and watched everything.

I was an introvert, but I got to see a lot of different people and absorb a lot of different things.

He made me develop in a way where I was able to tap into a lot of people's perspectives."

Jon Batiste photographed standing leaning on an electric guitar.

As soon as he learned about jazz, he had the opportunity to discover love.

When she was 14 years old, at a summer music camp, she met the person with whom he still shares her life today, the journalist and writer Suleika Jaouad.

She was 13, and had a crush on a "shy and awkward" boy, as she describes it on her Instagram account.

They have grown up together and throughout these more than two decades they have had time to experience moments of all kinds.

The hardest ones came when she was 22 and she was diagnosed with leukemia for the first time.

From one day to the next, the future became a terrifying place.

She had always been a great dreamer and had to learn to stop dreaming, as she recounts in her book

(

), published last year.

Jaouad says that his life became “a waiting room”, until he overcame the pothole and managed to move on.

Meanwhile, Batiste was always there, supporting in the way he knows best and can, with his music.

Also when the leukemia came back a second time.

They were times of strict confinement, and she had to continue her isolated treatment, in the hospital.

But she was never alone: ​​every day, Batiste composed a lullaby for Jaouad and entered by video call to play it on the piano.

They're still on the road, and it's been less than a month since she received a bone marrow transplant.

The day before, they were promised marriage.

It is his way of fighting and announcing that a future together awaits them: “Suleika has made me feel blessed to be alive.

There are so many good things that happen in the world that are not counted… I am not a person who shares his life too much, I am very reserved,

but we decided to tell about it because we believe that it can contribute something to people.

It gives the world something positive to celebrate, you know, give people perspective, how we're overcoming and dealing with a tough time in our personal health crisis.

She's dealing with a lot of hard stuff, and obviously that impacts our family.

So I wanted to show that there are different ways of dealing with a crisis in your life that can light up the darkness.”

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A post shared by Suleika Jaouad - سليكة جواد (@suleikajaouad)

Batiste relies blindly on the power of music and how it can help get through such a time.

He says that he has seen it with his own eyes in his family, since he was a child, and that has marked him forever, as a musician and as a person: “At my grandmother's funeral, I played a song called

.

She has seven children, and I saw what happened.

That music at that time gave them a feeling of peace.

Even if they had lost their mother, my grandmother.

And it was one of the first times I saw that power because I was a kid at the time.

Just by performing that song you realize how music can be used as a healing force, which can be bigger than just entertainment."

That song, written by a slaver who became an abolitionist after overcoming a harsh storm while sailing, has accompanied Batiste throughout her life, even opening a few concerts with her, melodica in hand.

Para Batiste, tocar música es “una práctica espiritual” y su manera de “meditar y conectar con el mundo” que le rodea. Pero también es su profesión. Además de su carrera en solitario, también toca con su banda Stay Human, que desde 2015 pone la música en directo a uno de los programas

most popular shows in the United States,

There, where he acts as the leader of the group, he has become a television character who also lends himself to showing his facet as a comedian.

And although he loves his work, in which he admits he has an amazing time, “there is nothing in life that does not have pros and cons”, he says about it:

“I have never toured with this record [

].

I've only been able to play

in dribs and drabs because I'm on TV every night in people's living rooms."

Musician Jon Batiste in a portrait for his album campaign.Universal Music Group

Count the days until you can hit the road to tell the world the story of

.

But what are we?

“When you listen to the title track of the album, you hear my grandfather speak and he says in a fragment: 'No one can give you inner peace.

You have to find her.

And you have to cultivate it every day.'

And the fun part is when you see it unfold in one person's life and become someone who changes the world, like Maya Angelou or Martin Luther King Jr. These people have influenced us.

That's the we I'm talking about.

We are here now.

So you know, you can change the world yourself.”

That, says Batiste, is what we are in the end.