On Sunday, Ben Ratliff gave a warm review to a performance by the Jonathan Batiste Quintet in the New York Times:

He can show off, and occasionally does. A long detour through Joplin’s “Entertainer” in his piece “In the Night” seemed unnecessarily impressive. But he opened with really likable guile: playing the melodica, a child’s keyboard wind instrument, he circled the theater improvising variations on Monk’s “’Round Midnight,” preaching on the song, running fast patterns on it, making it complicated and beautiful.

And in his “Sumayra,” a playful piece with a fast-trickling melody, some well-worn chord changes in the bridge and a walking bass line, Mr. Batiste was stunning: he played a solo in the piano’s upper region that was spare, forceful, witty, funky, imaginative and coherent. He seemed free, as if he weren’t trying to score points on depth and modernity but just squeezing juice out of the song; and thoughtful, as if walking in slow motion. It wasn’t a tour de force, and somehow it was better for it.