Jon Batiste And Stay Human, Hypnotic Brass Ensemble In Association With Blue Note Jazz Festival

Jon Batiste was born in New Orleans into a family whose deep musical heritage is part of the inspiration for the HBO series Treme, in which he has appeared. Over the last decade he has forged his own artistic path by indelibly fusing himself within the fabric of New York City culture. After attending the prestigious New Orleans Center for Creative Arts (NOCCA) Batiste moved to New York and graduated from the Juilliard School earning a master’s degree in jazz and classical piano. He has collaborated with the likes of Prince, Cassandra Wilson, Lauryn Hill, Wynton Marsalis, Jimmy Buffet, Eve, Lenny Kravitz, ?uestlove, and Asher Roth. He has also recorded extensively, most recently putting out the EP MY NY with Stay Human in 2011, a set that was recorded live in the Manhattan subway system. Social Music (Razor & Tie), is the new album by Batiste and his irrepressible musical collective, Stay Human. Both the title of the album and the name of the band are telling. “For me, what we’re doing is a calling, bringing people to an understanding that loving one another is how we are called to be,” he says. Now a quartet (with Batiste on piano, vocals and melodica, which he has renamed the harmonaboard; Eddie Barbash on alto saxophone; Ibanda Ruhumbika on tuba; and Joe Saylor on drums), Stay Human has evolved over the past eight years, running the spectrum from a jazz trio to a quintet to a big band with horns.