As we move ever closer to May, I’d like to cast your mind back to the first Sunday of April. That night held the 64th annual Grammy Awards. Considered the peak of musical awards, the Grammy is home to some of the most recognizable names in musical history. One of the highest honors they can bestow on an artist is the Album of the Year award.

This year nominees were:

• Jon Batiste – WE ARE

• Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga – Love for Sale

• Justin Bieber – Justice (Triple Chucks Deluxe)

• Doja Cat – Planet Her

• Billie Eilish – Happier Than Ever

• H.E.R. – Back of My Mind

• Lil Nas X – Montero

• Olivia Rodrigo – Sour

• Taylor Swift – Evermore

• Kanye West – Donda

Jon Batiste ended up taking home the grand prize but this is certainly not his first major award. He has been placed on the Forbes 30 under 30 list, awarded the American Jazz Museum Lifetime Achievement Award, the Harry Chapin ASCAP Humanitarian Award, the Movado Future Legend Award, a degree from The Juilliard School of Music, multiple Grammy wins, a Golden Globe, a Critic’s Choice Award, an award from the British Academy For The Arts and even an Oscar for Best Original Score.

If you don’t know him, you might know his band Jon Batiste and Stay Human, which he appears with nightly as the bandleader on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert since the most recent rendition of the show debuted on CBS in 2015. 

While I’m more of a fan of Jimmy Fallon, Batiste’s accolades can’t be ignored. His Album of the Year, “WE ARE,” was heralded as a wonderful mixture of New Orleans jazz with soul, funk and hip-hop blended perfectly like some Bourbon Street shrimp etouffee. After listening to the album multiple times I can say that I see where these accolades come from. 

I personally believe H.E.R.’s “Back of My Mind” was a better album but Batiste’s “WE ARE” strays away from the pop that usually dominates the awards. 

As you work your way through the album you can hear Batiste’s New Orleans background layered on top of modern pop, mo-town and hip-hop styles. In one song you get large band choruses and in the next you’ll have an acapella that slowly invites in pianos, drums and brass. Later you’ll find a soothing three minute piano instrumental and then you’ll hear Batiste rap. It’s an album that captures your ears in a wonderful wall of sound. 

At its core, the album is highly political and personal, covering themes of racial and social injustice, community, childhood and adulthood (there are literally songs called “BOY HOOD” and “ADULTHOOD”) and gospel and faith all while never feeling anything less than fun. With striding pianos, chorical hand claps and walking baselines, you feel like you should be in a dance hall in the ’60s waiting to be featured on American Bandstand. 

Some notable songs include “WE ARE,” “CRY,” “BOY HOOD” and “ADULTHOOD.” These songs highlight most of the best parts of the album which I discussed earlier. I especially love the dynamic between “BOY HOOD” and “ADULTHOOD” with a piano instrumental separating the two, the song “MOVEMENT 11.” It’s by far my favorite section of the album as it shows the dichotomy between the two subject lines and Baptiste’s personal experiences in both. 

All in all I would say “WE ARE” is a good album. Do I think it’s the best album of the year? No. It is a dynamic piece of art that has its upsides and can easily be ingested by the average listener and its significance in today’s climate cannot be understated. 

Baptiste is just the 11th Black artist to win Album of the Year and the first since Herbie Hancock won in 2008 for “River: The Joni Letters.” 

As far success in numbers, the album hasn’t really been done much. It peaked at #24 on the pop charts while “WE ARE” climbed up to #13 on the singles. Since the album’s release in March of last year, it hasn’t gone on to do much out commercially. But Batiste isn’t a “selling” artist. He’s a trailblazer in the world of blues and jazz but aside from his work on the Disney film “Soul” his music has never garnered that much attention. 

I admit I didn’t know him until the nominations were announced earlier this year but I will definitely be keeping an eye out and a ear open.

Jack Jordan is a reporter with The Moultrie Observer.