As part of Enduring Questions: The 2014-2015 Mark Collier Lecture Series, Jonathan Batiste, a New Orleans bred musician, awed the audience of Baldwin Wallace University with his enthusiasm for music and dance.
A twenty-seven-year-old Jazz pianist and ensemble director of the Stay Human Band, Batiste has been awarded the Movado Future Legends Award and performed in over forty countries worldwide.
Batiste introduced the lecture with a clapping exercise, which engaged the entire audience to explain the origin of “polyrhythms” in music.
“I like performing in places where there isn’t much music,” Batiste said.
Throughout the night, volunteers from the audience were invited onstage with Batiste to aid him in illustrating the transition of music styles throughout history. Assistant Dean of Students, Jay T. Hairston, and Director of Campus Diversity Affairs, Charles Harkness, joined Batiste onstage to perform the Negro spiritual, “Wade in the Water.”
A beautiful rendition of the popular lullaby, “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star,” as well as other familiar American and European melodies were performed as the audience clapped and sang along. As the lecture continued, more genres of music were performed to help explain the historical music lineage.
To help explain the emergence of Jazz music, five members from the audience volunteered to spontaneously create a collaborative Jazz piece with the speaker. This was an interactive example of Batiste’s method of playing music by ear.
During the Jazz piece lead by Batiste and performed by his BW peers, an eager Creative Writing major interpreted the performance in writing. Concluding the performance, the student recited the short story he wrote titled, “The Fancy Man.”
The musician described how important perseverance and ambition are to attaining one’s desired goals. Batiste recalled attending piano lessons while he was young and not yet musically literate. However, he eventually taught himself piano, his first learned instrument, by ear. Batiste laughed at the fact that his piano instructor believed he was beginning to master sight reading sheet music, when he was actually recreating the notes he heard his instructor initially play.
Batiste also mentioned his undergraduate experience at Julliard as being one which allowed him to evolve into the man he is today.  Batiste performed using several instruments during his lecture including the piano and melodica.
Batiste has performed in many places of prestige including, Carnegie Hall, the Lincoln Center, and the Kennedy Center. He also mentioned that he has performed on rooftops, ski slopes, in the middle of deserts, and even for a refugee camp in Beirut.
As co-director of the National Jazz Museum in Harlem, NY, Batiste provides workshops to those interested in learning more about this music genre. The Stay Human Band demonstrates Batiste’s passion for Jazz and spreading music to younger generations. The band plays Jazz fused with popular genres, such as R&B and Gospel.
Batiste and his band are currently touring the world and sharing “social music,” what he describes as music that brings people together.
Batiste ended the night by saying, “Social music gives depth to humanity…that [music] and love elevate consciousness.”