More Batiste piano series coming this summer:
We started with Beethoven.
Next is BLACK MOZART.
Then two Thelonious Monk suites ♥️♥️♥️
Listen to Alla Blues and Alla Turc Movement now 🫶🏾♾️
Pre order by dropping the word "MOZART" below
WOW—5 year anniversary of WE ARE today, an album that changed my life.
Intentionally released on the birthday of my grandmother, Henrietta Gauthier, it represents my lineage, our collective heritage, and the voice of people power 🤎🙏🏾
This is the moment I evolved from being a musician/composer into being an artist. After ten years as an independent artist—growing up making albums rooted in jazz, classical, and avant-garde music—I never imagined it would be possible to reach the heights this album opened up for me, all thanks to y’all.
This was my first album as a contemporary recording artist—singing, dancing, collaborating, writing and producing songs, playing all the instruments—so it has always felt like my first album, and in many ways, it is.
Still so grateful to my parents, @suleikajaouad and all my core teammates who helped me build this @ververecords@autumnrowe@kizzowhatitfeellike@jemelmcwilliams Alan Ferguson, Ryan Lynn @quincyjones@russelevado@mickmgmt@thadworld@pomobeats@mikeyfreedomhart and many, many more powerful souls–Congrats!
Thank you to everyone who made this album such a success, and to all the people still rocking with the music.
What are your favorite songs or memories connected to it?
Today is a big day for the cause of music and healing as we continue to understand the age-old divine ancestral wisdom that has been passed down to us via sacred scripture, oral traditions, spiritual practices and community rituals. In the modern world there are a special group of doctors, therapists and health workers who have spent years to understand and scale this wisdom into standard and accredited medical practices through scientific innovation and data that proves what we all know in our spirit when the gift of music embraces us.
Adopting this practice into modern medicine takes a lot of brilliant, compassionate folks willing to research ideas into findings and Joanne Loewy is a leader among them. I was grateful to meet Dr Joanne Loewy over a decade ago and begin working on what is now being revealed today.
For many years I've called my vision for how music can help make a better world Social Music. I began cultivating ways to express the philosophical meaning of Social Music first on the bandstand to the street corner to the subways with Stay Human and eventually elsewhere to collaborate on bringing the concept outside of only a performance context which lead me down the path of Music Wellness and Music Therapy.
Today Social Music is official! We published a rigorous peer reviewed study that has been years in the making in Voices: A World Forum for Music Therapy: An open-access peer-reviewed journal that explores the intersections of music, health, and social change. It's free to access and the impact will reverberate for generations! This is big!
This is evidence that music can foster and strengthen social connections that build implicit trust and can lead to overall wellness. (Link in Bio)
Students at the Pike school in Andover did such an incredible job on their concert singing and playing. In this clip they are singing a song I wrote years ago entitled “Believe” 😍 it’s so special. Let’s support the youth doing positive things and learn from their beautiful soulfulness and kind hearts.
“We were standing with our backs against the wall
Now we’re standing hand and hand we’ve got it all
And all I know is that we must believe in love “
I love to communicate on a deep soul level through the piano. My piano series started with Beethoven Blues and the response to that album was profoundly inspiring. I am so grateful to continue the series this summer with Mozart and Monk. Spread the word and let’s break some more records with this one as we break down cultural barriers and make classical music history. I’m so grateful to keep the piano series going. Write MOZART in the comments or in my DMs to get the pre order link for signed vinyl and sign up to become an even deeper part of my extended family 🖤
TWO CUSTOM ERL ARTISANAL LOOKS INSPIRED BY THE ARTWORK OF LEGENDARY AMERICAN ARTIST BARKLEY L. HENDRICKS. PERFORMED IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE ARTIST’S ESTATE, BATISTE AND ERL FOUNDER ELI RUSSELL LINNETZ, IN COLLABORATION WITH COREY STOKES, LOOK TO HONOR ONE OF THE MOST SIGNIFICANT ARTISTS IN THE 20TH CENTURY AMERICAN CANON, AS WELL AS A BREAKTHROUGH VOICE IN THE MEDIUM OF BLACK PORTRAITURE.
IN A KINDRED FORM THIS COLLABORATION ALIGNS WITH AND WAS ALSO INSPIRED BY BATISTE'S NEXT VOLUME IN HIS SOLO PIANO SERIES, BLACK MOZART, WHICH REINVENTS MOZART THROUGH BLACK AMERICAN MUSICAL ART FORMS AND TRADITIONS. THE ALBUM COMES OUT ON JUNETEENTH THIS YEAR.
"BARKLEY HENDRICKS USES THE MEDIUM OF VISUAL ARTS TO HIGHLIGHT THE EVERYDAY, CASUAL MAJESTY OF BLACK PEOPLE. IT'S ALIGNED WITH WHAT I'M DOING IN THE MEDIUM OF CLASSICAL MUSIC WITH BLACK MOZART. SOLO PIANO IS A MUSICAL FORM OF PORTRAITURE. IT ALSO VERY ALIGNED WITH ELI'S APPROACH TO REIMAGINING THE MALE SILHOUETTE. GRATEFUL TO ERL, COREY STOKES AND BARKLEY HENDRICKS ESTATE FOR HELPING TO TELL THIS STORY VIA THREE DIFFERENT MEDIUMS OF ART: FASHION, VISUAL ARTS AND MUSIC."
INSPIRED BY HENDRICKS’ SEMINAL 1976 PAINTING “STEVE”, THE LOOK WAS DESIGNEDAND CRAFTED ENTIRELY IN IVORY AND WHITEFABRICS, REFERENCING HENDRICKS’ INTENTIONAL USE OF ALL-WHITE CLOTHING TO HIGHLIGHT THE CONTRAST AND PRESENCE OF THE SKIN TONE OFHIS SUBJECTS, STRIPPING THE PALATE TO PURE FORM AND EXPLORING SCULPTURAL POSSIBILITIES OF DRAPING, ASYMMETRY, AND VOLUME.
FOR BATISTE’S PRE-MET OUTFIT, LINNETZ TAKES INSPIRATION FROM HENDRICKS LEGENDARY 1969 PAINTING “ICON FOR MY MAN SUPERMAN (SUPERMAN NEVER SAVED ANY BLACK PEOPLE - BOBBY SEALE)”. THROUGH HENDRICKS’ EYES, THE AVERAGE BECAME EXTRAORDINARY. THE EVERYDAY, MONUMENTAL. DECADES BEFORE STREETWEAR EXISTED AS A CONCEPT, HENDRICKS ELEVATED THE IMAGE OF AN ORDINARY GARMENT INFO FORMAL PORTRAIT WEAR.
Artist: Barkley L. Hendricks
Designer: @erl , @elirusselllinnetz
Jewels: @cartier
Styling: @coreytstokes
Grooming: @iammadgeearle@msjrobinson@yukethebarber
📸 @alexlockettup at @whitneymuseum
I started working on SWAMP in 2014, a sci-fi musical drama set in the future 🐊 When 12 years ago the vision for this world and all the characters came to me, I knew it was the feeling of getting a massive download from the divine. The story is so potent and the music celebrates the heritage and culture of the swamp. It all evokes so many themes and traditions that resonate deeply with me and that the world needs. I was so proud (and nervous!) to share a snippet of the concept with the world for the first time at Jazz fest this Sunday when we closed out the Blues Tent. It felt like the perfect time and place to do it. Playing LAST CHANCE and COUNTRY STAR for the first time for folks felt so good!
Team we did it! It means so much to me and I am so grateful to the cast and crew who made it possible. We really set something very significant in motion. And thank you to everyone who came to see it ♥️ I'm not sure what's next but just taking in this massive moment and excited for more to come !
ACT I
SWAMP SYMPHONY (narration) (new)
PETRICHOR / DRUM CIRCLE
BIG MONEY
LOUISIANA TWO STEP - Clifton chenier
COMMUNITY BAND (new)
LAST CHANCE (new)
LONELY AVENUE
SWAMP SYMPHONY (narration) (new)
ACT II
CORNBREAD CAKE (new)
PINNACLE
NO PARTICULAR PLACE TO GO -chuck berry
BIG CHIEF - Professor longhair
SOME PLACE - nick waterhouse
AIN'T THAT A SHAME - fats domino
COUNTRY STAR (new)
I NEED YOU
Photos by Terence Rushin/David Fenton @photorushin@dfenton1
Spiritual. Wow! Thank you @jazzfest , my brilliant fellow performers and YOU the audience. I love you even if I don't know you❤️ This is a spiritual journey onstage and we loved every minute of it. God bless New Orleans. See you tomorrow again for something else very special and from deep within my heart and soul. We played over 300 years of music history and heritage yesterday. Some songs we channeled live in the moment for the first time. When the Blind Boys Of Alabama started out with Amazing Grace I already knew it was going to be one for the books. Then into Ameriican Requiem and Freedom, two songs we wrote inspired by what this set represents. That National Anthem duet with Hendrix to the whole fairgrounds singing Hallelujah and Changes. Or the Let God Lead moment. The DANCERS! the SINGERS! The JOY! Taz shredding the guitar and Desz singing life into the world. La Reezy 'da leader of da uth' showing us his gift and Flagboy performing his anthem 🙏🏾🤎Grateful to always work with the best, @jemelmcwilliams we did it again! Thank you @ncbassphysics@alvinfordjr@deszmusicofficial@maxtownsley@nickwaterhouse@lareezymusic@blindboysofalabama@flagboygiz@brandonniederauer@thejefferymiller@nolajuice@moralehoskins DJ @antwigadee@thejonettes@andredouglas2@breonna_jordan@thyrealandre@camiamkeys and the ONE and only J5 plus the incredible Nu Nation & singers of New Orleans curated by Nick Mercadel 💯
Act I
AMAZING GRACE (feat Blind Boys of Alabama)
LET GOD LEAD
AMERIICAN REQUIEM/FREEDOM
GROOVE ME/ DJ JUBILEE MEDLEY
BIG MONEY (with Total Praise ending)
Act II
TWIG/JON DJ piano set: HALLELUJAH by L. Cohen
CHANGES by 2pac
WHEN DOVES CRY by Prince
STAR SPANGLED BANNER/LIFT EVERY VOICE (in duet with Hendrix Woodstock Sample)
NOBODY KNOWS (JESUS WE NEED YOU)
PEOPLE IN THE WORLD **
CRY
Act III
I NEED YOU / RAY CHARLES
TWIG TRANSITION MIX
WE OUTSIDE (Flagboy Giz)
HARDHEAD (LaReezy)
HAPPY AND U KNOW IT
OH WHEN THE SAINTS (Loveriot in the crowd)
I'M FROM KENNER
📸 @photorushin
