Jon Batiste's Headshot

Jon Batiste

Oscar, Grammy, and Emmy Winning Artist - Panelist Blurb

One of the most prolific and versatile musicians of any generation, Jon Batiste has spent his career bringing music back to where it started — with the people. Jon was born in New Orleans into the legendary Batiste family, and later studied at the world-renowned Juilliard School in New York City. There, he established the Stay Human band which became famous for their musical virtuosity and their signature street performances called "love riots.” Batiste’s skills as an artist, coupled with his social advocacy, quickly made him one of the country’s most sought-out collaborators and performers, with appearances that include the Grammys, Kennedy Center Honors, and the US Open.

Since 2015, Jon has been bandleader and musical director of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert on CBS. In 2018, he received a Grammy nomination for Best American Roots Performance and in 2020, he received two Grammy nods for albums he self-produced: Chronology of a Dream: Live at the Village Vanguard and Meditations (with Cory Wong). In 2020, Jon won an Academy Award for Best Original Score for the Disney/Pixar film Soul, an honor he shared with fellow composers Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. Jon’s work on Soul also earned him a Golden Globe, BAFTA, NAACP Image Award and a Critic’s Choice Award. Jon is the second black composer in history, after legendary jazz musician Herbie Hancock, to win an Academy Award for composition.

Devoted to the education and development of emerging musicians, Jon has led his own Social Music Residency and Mentoring program, sponsored by Chase, in addition to master classes across the world. He also serves as the Music Director of The Atlantic and Co-Artistic Director of the National Jazz Museum in Harlem, in addition to being a board member for Sing For Hope.

Jon’s latest studio album, WE ARE, was released in March 2021 to overwhelming critical acclaim. Subsequently, he was nominated for eleven Grammys across seven different categories, a first in Grammy history. Jon went on to win five of those Grammys including  Album of the Year.  The versatility of the album which was envisioned by Batiste as he processed the tumultuous times of 2020, earned him praise by The New York Times, Rolling Stone, and more. During Carnegie Hall’s 2021-2022 season, Batiste will curate a multi-concert series, which is set to include his American Symphony which serves as an homage to previous trailblazers who have made history at Carnegie such as Duke Ellington, Mahalia Jackson and Nina Simone.