Last night, Jon Batiste became The Root 100's first recipient of the “Vision and Voice” award. The prolific Grammy-winning artist was grateful for the honor and wanted to share his journey with attendees.
In his moving acceptance speech, Batiste paid homage to James Brown and the history that the Apollo has with Black folks. He also presented a clip from his documentary, “American Symphony” and took the stage to perform.
“Hello, hello, hello! Whewwww, my goodness!” the star exclaimed. “Apollo, Soul Power! Say Soul Power! Soul Power! Power to the people! Man, I’ve been dreaming of doing that...James Brown ‘Live at the Apollo’...the history of this venue and The Root—whew!”
After sharing his excitement, Batiste told quite the personal tale.
“I’m gonna tell a story right now—it just struck my spirit to share this story. So the first time that my family band played a show together outside the city of New Orleans, Louisiana was on this very stage. As Stella Mae and Jon Jeffrey Batiste loaded seven boys—seven brothers—into the van, they drove from Bunche Village, Louisiana all the way up to Harlem, New York and they participated in the amateur night at the Apollo and they won. They went on to do so many great things, performing, touring, playing all around the world...fast forward 20 years ago my first time ever playing for New York City was on this stage.”
He continued:
“I came here and it was for the special guest of the amateur night, my good friend—like a brother to me—Trombone Shorty and I...we performed. We performed on this stage and it was the first time I’d been in New York City, first time I’d been in Harlem, first time I experienced the connection and I just put it together: that was 20 years ago and that was also the first time my family generation prior to me was on this stage. To receive this honor 20 years later on this stage with y’all tonight and to present the ‘American Symphony’ clip which is such a pivotal point in my life...really in this time in the world to be together is a gift. So thank you so much and we can’t have this kind of gathering, this kind of communication, this kind of community without some music so I will perform. Thank you so much and I love you—power to the people! Root 100, yes indeed!”
Batiste’s creative vision, work ethic and undeniable authenticity was on full display and are the reasons he was honored in the first place.