Page 14 - aruba-today-20220405

a14 people & arts
Tuesday 5 april 2022
Meet Jon Batiste, new Grammy winner with plenty going on

By MARK KENNEDY Orleans Center for Cre-
AP Entertainment Writer ative Arts and the presti-
NEW YORK (AP) — Jon Ba- gious The Juilliard School.
tiste wears so many hats The music and culture of
he may need a closet for New Orleans are highlight-
them all — recording artist, ed in Batiste's "Freedom"
bandleader, musical direc- video, which features the
tor, film composer, museum band from St. Augustine
creative director and scion High School, which Ba-
of New Orleans musical tiste attended, marching
royalty. through the city's streets.
The multi-instrumentalist "Jon Batiste has been a tre-
won five Grammys on Sun- mendous ambassador for
day and despite being on Louisiana, as an entertainer
TV all week, not many peo- and as someone who truly
ple may know fully. cares about the people of
HE'S GOT 'SOUL' our great state," Louisiana
Batiste composed mu- Gov. John Bel Edwards said
sic, consulted on and ar- Monday.
ranged songs for Pixar's ani- SIDE HUSTLES
mated film "Soul," a mid-life Batiste became the first
crisis movie mixed with a musical director for The
New York jazz fantasia and Atlantic magazine in 2017
a body-swap comedy. He Jon Batiste, winner of the awards for best American roots performance for "Cry," best American and is co-creative direc-
won a Golden Globe for roots song for "Cry," best music video for "Freedom," best score soundtrack for visual media for tor of the National Jazz
"Soul," and album of the year for "We Are," poses in the press room at the 64th Annual Grammy
the music alongside Trent Awards at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on Sunday, April 3, 2022, in Las Vegas. Museum in Harlem. He has
Reznor and Atticus Ross of Associated Press been featured in ad cam-
Nine Inch Nails; and the paigns for Chase, Apple,
trio also earned the Acad- Stay Human were a natural Angels: Live at the Village earned nods in such vari- Lincoln and numerous fash-
emy Award for best origi- fit. The mutual respect Col- Vanguard," and "Medita- ous categories as R&B, jazz, ion brands including Ralph
nal score. For their work bert and Batiste share is ob- tions," a collaboration with American roots, classical, Lauren, Barney's, Nord-
on "Soul," Batiste, Reznor vious. The bandleader of- guitarist Cory Wong. His al- music video and album of strom and H&M. His song
and Ross won the Grammy ten cheers the comedian's bum "Social Music" spent the year. Batiste's "Ameri- "Freedom" has been show-
on Sunday for best score nightly monologue from over a month atop the can Symphony" is set to cased across the NCAA
soundtrack f or visual me- the piano, appears in seg- Billboard and iTunes jazz premiere at Carnegie Hall Tournament and served as
dia. ments and accompanies charts, and he also put to- in May. the face of New Orleans
AT THE PIANO NIGHTLY the musical guests. Batiste gether the pandemic ben- THE BIG EASY ahead of Saturday night's
Batiste has toured globally stuck with the gig even dur- efit album, "Relief: A Benefit Batiste was born into a long Final Four at the Caesars
with his band Stay Human ing the pandemic, coming for the Jazz Foundation of lineage of New Orleans Superdome.
and made a memorable up with tunes, both original America's Musicians Relief musicians, which includes He also had a role in Spike
stop at Comedy Central's and covers, on the spot. Fund." His eighth album and the Batiste Brothers Band Lee's 2012 film "Red Hook
"The Colbert Report" in 2014. MAKING SWEET MUSIC the Grammy breakthrough and brass band legends Summer" and appeared as
When producers of "The Recording since he was was 2021's "We Are," a Milton and "Uncle" Lionel himself on the HBO televi-
Late Show With Stephen a teenager, Batiste's al- sonic blow-out blending Batiste. He played drums as sion series "Treme." Batiste
Colbert" were considering bums include "Hollywood R&B, jazz, hip-hop, march- a child before switching to is literally the poster boy for
having a house band the Africans," produced by T ing bands and rock, some- piano at age 11. the upcoming New Orleans
following year, Batiste and Bone Burnett, "Anatomy of times in the same song. He He is a graduate of New Jazz & Heritage Festival.q

Greta Thunberg aims to drive change

with ‘The Climate Book’

from leading scientists and a guide to understanding to source for understand-
writers. and activism. ing these different, closely
It contains contributions Contributors including Ke- interconnected crises,"
from more than 100 aca- nyan environmentalist Thunberg said in a state-
demics, thinkers and cam- Wanjira Mathai, Brazilian ment.
paigners, including novel- indigenous activist Sonia Thunberg began skipping
ists Margaret Atwood and Guajajara, French econo- classes once a week to
Amitav Ghosh, climate mist Thomas Piketty and protest climate change
scientist Saleemul Huq and Canadian journalist Naomi in 2018, when she was 15,
World Health Organiza- Klein offer "compelling sto- sparking a series of school
tion chief Tedros Adhanom ries of change, action and walkouts that grew into a
Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg speaks on the stage
of a demonstration in Glasgow, Scotland, Friday, Nov. 5, 2021 Ghebreyesus. resilience," the publisher global youth movement.
which is the host city of the COP26 U.N. Climate Summit. The book aims to help said, alongside Thunberg's Now 19, the Swedish activ-
Associated Press readers connect the dots own stories of "learning, ist has already published
between threats to the demonstrating, and un- a memoir, "Our House
By JILL LAWLESS compiled a handbook for climate, environment, sus- covering greenwashing Is On Fire" and a collec-
Associated Press tackling the world's inter- tainability and indigenous around the world." tion of speeches, "No One
LONDON (AP) — Climate connected environmental populations — among oth- "My hope is that this book Is Too Small to Make a
activist Greta Thunberg has crises, with contributions ers — and is intended as might be some kind of go- Difference."q