I’m not very good at listening to… any kind of instrumental music, really. I struggle to stay focused, I struggle not to just tune out. And I know that that’s a miss, I can feel it. I’ll be listening to something I know I could like, that I know is interesting and is well put together. On my second listen through I’ll start noticing things, start hearing with enough clarity to know what’s available if I invest myself into it. But it’s only enough to know that I could like it more given time and practice— two times is enough to give the potential of liking it, not actually liking it. The problem is, actually liking it takes so long, and then once I do actually like it I still have to be specifically engaged to enjoy it in a way that I don’t with other music. Even when I love it and have learned how to genuinely appreciate the instrumental music, it’s not charismatic for me, I have to work for it all the time. It’s frustrating.
Thankfully, Batiste doesn’t just have instrumental jazz. Again, the instrumental jazz is good, and I certainly don’t want to count it against him, but it doesn’t pull me in at all. His most recent two albums, WE ARE and World Music Radio, definitely do, they are much more my speed. This stuff has clearly got the same influences as the stuff before it, but it’s so so so much easier for me to like. I’d been wondering why my friend recommended Batiste to me; she doesn’t give me big “time to listen to instrumental jazz” vibes. These albums answer that. These songs are fun and rich with personality.
This phase of Batiste gives me similar vibes to Jack White, honestly. It sounds way way different, yes, obviously. But still, something about that comparison feels apt. Something about the exploration, the willingness to touch on lots of different genres from the frame of a core home genre, the emotion and energy matches, I think. I also think they are similar, musically, at least when comparing White to Batiste’s WE ARE (less so, World Music Radio). White’s bluesy rock base and Batiste’s soulful jazz base both emphasize establishing relatively simple structures to make a groove, with lots of interesting and complex elements layered on top of that. Anyway, the specifics of it aren’t that important. I don’t know enough to offer more than conjecture. The point is, I really really quite like WE ARE, it is my jam. It’s enough my jam that I think it can almost carry Batiste into the A-range.
Combine that with how much I wish I liked his instrumental stuff, and how much I actually do like World Music Radio? Yeah, an A feels entirely reasonable. I do think I prefer WE ARE. It has more of those Jack White vibes I mentioned, and I really appreciate that. World Music Radio is more collaborative and modern, I think, in a way that doesn’t hit as strong for me. Still good, for sure, but something about WE ARE is so attractive to me. But yeah, cool guy, cool vibes, good musician, awesome pop songs, what’s not to love? Easy A
tunafruitsandwitch 
Jon Batiste – he gets an A! What a lovely surprise! I didn’t know much about Batiste.
I had heard/seen him live – during a taping of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. I didn’t think much of the whole show band thing or him really, although he seemed pleasant enough. I mean, the 20 seconds he played here and there were good, but my focus was elsewhere. The next time Jon Batiste caught my attention was after watching the movie Soul. I didn’t know about Batiste’s participation in Soul in any capacity, but I was blown away by the animation of the pianist’s hands. I had never seen anything like it! Only come to find out later, those were Jon Batiste’s hands! Still, I never thought much about him as a musician, meaning, I literally didn’t think about him in the realm of music, just as the lucky guy that got to hang out with Colbert and then so cool about the disney animated hands!
So when Jon Batiste came up next on the list of listens I was kind of surprised. I didn’t even know he had albums :)
I must say I was captivated from the start. I now want to learn how to play the melodica. My favorite ‘Favorite Things’ now belongs to Jon Batiste. I love his standards, his originals, when he plays, when he sings, when he collaborates. His stuff just makes my heart happy. What can I say? I loved hearing his progression from the earlier stuff to the later. I agree with you, his last two albums are quite remarkable. I can’t wait to hear what he comes up with next. Solid (A) Jon Batiste. A full dig.
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