NEW ORLEANS — Sunday night in Las Vegas at the Grammys, the Batiste family sat in the audience waiting to see if Jon would win his fifth trophy of the night, for album of the year.
And of course he did.
Now back at home in Kenner, they talk about their trip and the journey over the years to get there.
For 50 years, Michael Batiste toured the world, playing gigs with three of his six brothers. He remembers one Jazz Fest when Jon came along as a little boy.
“And he just insisted he wanted to help me carry my bass, you know, and so you got it, and the bass is almost as heavy as he is,” said Michael Batiste, Jon’s father.
When Jon Batiste was eight, mom Katherine enrolled him and big sister Kaleana Gautier in piano lessons.
“At the time we didn't have a lot of money, so you know, they were put into the Jefferson Parish program,” said Jon’s mother Katherine.
Summer jazz camps followed.
“Jon actually, like he was really taking off, and really getting much, much better, and I was there, and it was more work for me,” said older sister Kaleana Gautier.
Jon's parents nurtured that talent. They got him piano lessons with the late, great Ellis Marsalis, and then as a teen, he started doing gigs with the late jazz clarinetist Alvin Batiste, who is no relation to Jon’s family. At NOCCA in high school, he and fellow students, like Trombone Shorty, did gigs. One at a time, mom and dad got him a portable keyboard that was budget friendly, a small one, then a larger one, long before a Steinway piano came into the home. A scholarship to the famed Julliard performing arts school followed, where he also got a master's degree.
“The initial intent was not to turn him into this musician, you know, follow in this tradition. If he had an interest, just let him go with it,” said Michael.
And when you see Jon take command of the stage, this might surprise you.
“When we were younger, he was very shy, so not the same performer you see today,” Gautier laughed.
But his mom was not surprised Grammy night.
“All of the songs on “We Are,” I love every single song on there. I listen to that album every day. I told him it was going to win. It's a beautiful album, every song,” Katherine said.
And it's evident where his humble character comes from.
“I get proud and feel happy and feel thankful that I have a son that's blessed,” Katherine said.
“You see because a lot of this has exceeded our wildest imagination,” Michael added.
And his hometown is just as proud too.
Jon Batiste has upcoming performances this spring in New York at Carnegie Hall.
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