WATCH JON BATISTE’S ELECTRIFYING NPR TINY DESK CONCERT - @JonBatiste

WATCH JON BATISTE’S ELECTRIFYING NPR TINY DESK CONCERT

Singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Jon Batiste flexed his many talents and debuted new original songs for his NPR Tiny Desk concert, published earlier today. Watch below.

Joined by an incredible line-up of female musicians, including Endea Owens (bass), Nega Santos (percussion), Sarah Thawer (drums), and Celisse Henderson, (guitar/vox), Batiste performed brand new original songs for the NPR offices in D.C. late last year. 

Showing off his vocal chops and dexterous skills on the Wurlitzer, electric guitar, piano, and melodica, Batiste showed a different, more personal musical side with an array of self-penned songs including soul ballad “Cry,” “jazz and hip-hop inspired” (NPR) “Coltrane,” the funk-driven “Tell The Truth” and a “bit of church” (NPR) with “I Need You."

Batiste stopped to tell the NPR crowd, "we're playing some music, and we're coping. The times are in an interesting place, but music is always that universal language that can bring people in a room together." 

Jon Batiste is an American virtuoso pianist, bandleader, composer, record producer, educator and actor. As a teenager, he began self-producing and releasing his music on the internet, as well as performing internationally. His major label debut “Hollywood Africans” (Verve Records) was nominated for a GRAMMY award for Best American Roots Performance in 2019 and, along with his band Stay Human, he is featured nightly on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. 

His music is featured in the 2020 Disney Pixar film Soul, set for release later this year, and his composing and songwriting will be featured in his large scale, genre-melding symphonic work “American Symphony,” set to be performed at Carnegie Hall in 2021.