When he was named bandleader for CBS’ The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Jon Batiste brought a bit of New Orleans flavor to the New York City-based program. Born in Kenner, Batiste was born into a large musical family and has earned accolades as a singer, multi-instrumentalist and educator.
On a recent episode of CBS’ Face the Nation, Batiste shared some fascinating insight into his approach to music, particularly as it relates to a song as heavy and historically resonant as “Battle Hymn of the Republic.” When asked by host John Dickerson how he prepares for such a weighty performance, Batiste responded with “You think about your personal history with it and combine it with the history of the piece…I think back to the first time I heard the piece, how did I feel when I heard it, what did that mean? What was my take on the ethos of this music? Then you read about it after you discover how you felt about it. Then I discover this is very integral to our tradition as Americans as well as what’s going on in the world right now.”
As evidenced by his improvisational take on music, Batiste says he thinks about the intention his work in a similar fashion. “It’s really the subconscious mind taking control after a certain point. I pinpoint the essence, which to me is something intangible about a piece of music and its history. It’s that thing when everybody hears it, it gives you an emotional cue that makes you feel and respond in a certain way, and that happens across the board with great songs. This song has that thing about it that makes have a sense of reverence for it,” he explains.
He then gets into the nitty gritty of what that essence actually is. “You have the blend of African rhythms, you have this chant going on, the music mixed with the gospel choral style. There’s a drone that you find in a lot of eastern music, there is a prepared piano, which is where you take different artifacts like tape, coins, wallet, whatever you have to affect the sound of the piano. With that I was able to make drums, or hand-claps or other percussion elements. I was able to make bells, church bells. It’s just a blend of everything that I think that we, at our best, is the idea of American life. At its best, it’s everything coexisting and the great compromise of every element being here and living as one. That’s what the piece represents.”
Elsewhere in the interview, the two discuss America’s current political climate and more.
