PERFORMING HIS MULTI-GENRE American Symphony at Carnegie Hall in May 2022 is just the tip on a mountain of this still young genius. Jon Batiste, a native son of New Orleans, has creatively blended and transcended the spectrum of American music in a way that has made it even more infectious. From Louis Armstrong to Nas, Leontyne Price to Alicia Keys — as well as an abstract mix of Miles Davis, Aretha Franklin, Quincy Jones, Mary J., Ellington, Hip Hop and Second Line — Batiste has constructed another paradigm of music for a new century. While honoring a wealthy archive of past creators and innovators, he has given us a new way to hear and feel the art of sound. Music — or a melodious mosaic of universal sounds in concert, as my Dad once explained — is proven by Batiste to still be evolving technically and emotionally. Batiste is tapping deeper roots of melodies, chords, pitches and rhythms. Best of all he's doing it with and without lyrics in a way that usually takes multiple decades for many musicians to achieve. This is also the level of artistic integrity in musical innovation missed by too many producers and record companies. His premiere soulful symphony at Carnegie Hall, the tour, CDs and streams surely signal that music making is approaching a new universe of excellence and appeal that is less transient, formulaic and phony. By any definition of creativity and craft, as humble and introspective as Jon Batiste presents himself, he is the certified evidence of multi-genre genius in our time. DM      VIDEO►     JonBatiste.com►     VIDEO►     AmericanSymphony►