NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� When Grammy-award winner was a kid, say, 9 or 10 years old, he moved between musical worlds 鈥� participating in local, classical piano competitions by day, then 鈥済igging in night haunts in the heart of New Orleans.鈥�
Free from the rigidity of genre, but also a dedicated student of it, his tastes wove into one another. He'd find himself transforming canonized classical works into blues or gospel songs, injecting them with the style-agnostic soulfulness On Nov. 15, Batiste will release his first ever album of solo piano work, a collection of similar compositions.
Titled 鈥淏eethoven Blues (Batiste Piano Series, Vol. 1)," across 11 tracks, Batiste collaborates, in a way, with Beethoven, reimagining the German pianist's instantly recognizable works into something fluid, extending across musical histories. Kicking off with the lead single 鈥淔眉r Elise-Batiste,鈥� with its simple intro known the world over as one of the first pieces of music beginners learn on piano, he morphs the song into ebullient blues.
鈥淢y private practice has always been kind of in reverence to, of course, but also to demystify the mythology around these composers,鈥� he told The Associated Press in an interview ahead of Wednesday's album release announcement.
The album was written through a process called 鈥渟pontaneous composition,鈥� which he views as a lost art in classical music. It's extemporization; Batiste sits at the piano and interpolates Beethoven's masterpieces to make them his own.
鈥淭he approach is to think about, if I were both in conversation with Beethoven, but also if Beethoven himself were here today, and he was sitting at the piano, what would the approach be?" he explained. "And blending both, you know, my approach to artistry and creativity and what my imagined approach of how a contemporary Beethoven would approach these works.鈥�
There is a division, he said, in a popular understanding of music where 鈥減ristine and preserved and European" genres are viewed as more valuable than 鈥渟omething that鈥檚 Black and sweaty and improvisational.鈥� This album, like most of his work, disrupts the assumption.
Contrary to what many might think, Batiste said that Beethoven's rhythms are African. 鈥淥n a basic technical level, he鈥檚 doing the thing that African music ingenuity brought to the world, which is he鈥檚 playing in both a two meter and a three meter at once, almost all the time. He's playing in two different time signatures at once, almost exclusively," he said.
鈥淲hen you hear a drum circle, you know, the African diasporic tradition of playing in time together, you鈥檙e hearing multiple different meters happening at once," he continued. "In general, he鈥檚 layering all of the practice of classical music and symphonic music with this deeply African rhythmic practice, so it鈥檚 sophisticated.鈥�
鈥淏eethoven Blues" honors that complexity. 鈥淚鈥檓 deeply repelled by the classism and the culture system that we鈥檝e set up that degrades some and elevates others. And ultimately the main thing that I鈥檓 drawn in by is how excellence transcends race,鈥� he said.
When these songs are performed live, given their spontaneous nature, they will never sound exactly like they do on record, and no two sets will be the same. 鈥淚f you were to come and see me perform these works 10 times in a row, you鈥檇 hear not only a new version of Beethoven, but you would also get a completely new concert of Beethoven,鈥� he said.
鈥淏eethoven Blues鈥� is the first in a piano series 鈥� just how many will there be, and over what time frame, and what they will look like? Well, he's keeping his options open.
鈥淭he themes of the piano series are going to be based on, you know, whatever is timely for me in that moment of my development, whatever I鈥檓 exploring in terms of my artistry. It could be another series based on a composer," he said.
"Or it could be something completely different.鈥�
Maria Sherman, The Associated Press
