Jon Batiste, a Grammy-, Emmy- and Oscar-winning musician, considers himself deeply introverted. But he hasn't let that stop him from bringing people together with music.
Jon Batiste considers himself an introvert — a fact that may be hard to believe about the Grammy-winning performer, composer and multi-instrumentalist.
Despite his introversion, the virtuoso is intent on using his music to bring people together, blending genres and drawing from every era and corner of the world to make what he calls "social music."
"I just enjoy the idea of being this vessel that unites people, brings people together, against all odds," Batiste said. "That's a form of faith, for me."
Batiste grew up in a musical family in Kenner, Louisiana, a New Orleans suburb. He told 60 Minutes he barely spoke until he was about 10, and learned to embrace stillness while sitting in a magnolia tree in his family's front yard.
He took up piano at his mother's urging and quickly excelled. By the time he graduated high school, Batiste was playing gigs across New Orleans, but wanted a greater challenge. So, he went to New York and auditioned for Juilliard – despite, he said, being unable to sight-read music.
"In the audition there was a sight reading test on the spot," Batiste said. "I'm like, 'I can't read this. What am I going to do?'"
"Whatever it was, in that moment, was certainly not what was on the page, but it was music that was coming through me at that moment," he said.
Batiste got in, but soon found he didn't fit in. He said his free spirit clashed with the school's more structured methods, and at one point, exasperated instructors sent him to see a psychologist, who affirmed that he was on the right track.
"He really understood and saw me," Batiste said, "and helped me to understand, at that beginning stage of my journey, that I may be weird, but, 'You're all right, son.'"
Batiste said this moment gave him evidence his vision was worth pursuing, even if others didn't understand it.
"It's really tough, man. It's annoying," Batiste said. "You have to be comfortable being misunderstood. You have to be comfortable moving at a pace that is not at the pace with the rest of the world."
With that understanding, Batiste decided to create his music his way without apology.
In 2014, Batiste impressed Stephen Colbert during an appearance on the "Colbert Report." When Colbert took over "The Late Show," he invited Batiste and his Stay Human band to join him. Batiste was the show's bandleader for seven years, all while continuing to create his own music.
60 Minutes dropped in for a recording session at the famed Electric Lady Studios in Greenwich Village last month, where Batiste seemed to draw music from thin air. He appeared lost in a trance as he improvised at the piano. He said it was only afterward in the control room, listening to the playback, that he truly heard what he'd created.
"When I'm playing it, I'm feeling it. I want to stay in a certain flow and feeling," Batiste said.
"When I get to the piano, there's a — that's the openness. It's a tidal wave," Batiste said. "You are seeing the physical representation of that on my face, I guess, or in my body, is, you know, there's a change."
For Batiste, those creative feelings flow from improvisation. He improvised right up until the last minute while preparing for the Hollywood Bowl last month – mixing rhythm and blues with pop and classical music, letting the full sweep of his musical imagination, including "social music," take center stage.
An earlier stage for Batiste was the New York City subway. While he was a student at Juilliard, Batiste came up with a testing ground for his "social music:" a ritual he calls a "love riot." Last month, he invited 60 Minutes along to watch as he led a group of musicians into the New York City subway. They played from station to platform, and platform to train, temporarily transforming an ordinary subway car into the happiest place in New York.
Batiste said that although it felt like a party, the experience was serious.
"This is a mass revival of the soul," he said.
"I love seeing how different songs strike a chord with different people," Batiste said. "And that's a beautiful thing, when you can bring somebody that kind of unexpected feeling of belonging, feeling like they're not alone in the world."
Music is also part of Batiste's relationship with his wife, artist and writer Suleika Jaouad. The pair started dating in 2014 and married in 2022. She has been in and out of treatment for leukemia, and this month, she went into the hospital for her third bone marrow transplant. She was facing her second transplant at a time when Batiste was nominated for multiple Grammy awards.
"The highs are never separate from the low points," Batiste said. "That's life. And it's a part of how you find gratitude in life. It's the way that you find gratitude for each other."
During his performance at the Hollywood Bowl last month, Batiste performed "Butterfly," a lullaby he'd composed to help Jaouad's healing. He asked the crowd to hold up their phones and turn on their lights. The stadium lit up.
"That's symbolic," he said. "That's evidence of the light that we ignited in these people tonight."