Jonathan Batiste, now known as Jon Batiste, is a pianist and composer who performed at the Rubin in New York City while still at Juilliard in 2006, and again on October 17, 2008, when this video was recorded.
Performing Artists
Jonathan Batiste, piano, harmonica
Matt Marantz, saxophone
Eddie Barbash, alto saxophone
Phil Kuehn, bass
Ulysses Owens, drums
Near the end of his concert at the Rubin Museum of Art, the pianist Jonathan Batiste played a piece about a six-inch statue, which sat across the stage from him on a pedestal. It was a representation of Virupa the Ugly, an ancient Tibetan yogi. Mr. Batiste said that his piece was the last section of a three-part composition he wrote for the statue. It was dark-toned post-Coltrane mainstream jazz, with a couple of dramatic mood shifts; a dense, torrid middle section; and some open space for improvising by Mr. Batiste and two other gifted, young and driven soloists: the tenor saxophonist Matt Marantz and the alto saxophonist Eddie Barbash. – Ben Ratliff, New York Times
Produced by Tim McHenry for the Rubin Museum of Art and Loren Schoenberg for the Jazz Museum in Harlem
Filmed at the Rubin Museum of Art
Get the latest news and stories from the Rubin, plus occasional information on how to support our work.