--- description: At the 2022 TIME100 Summit, Jon Batiste opened the day with a performance—and discussed the power of music and jazz with Amber Ruffin. title: Jon Batiste Opens the TIME100 Summit With Music—and Reflects on Its Power image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1878425df9e9dc15/698a32910116823dc3981f32/time-100-summit-jon-batiste-performance.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Jun 07, 2022 # Jon Batiste Opens the TIME100 Summit With Music—and Reflects on Its Power by [Raisa Bruner](/author/raisa-bruner/) ## Raisa Bruner Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close  Jon Batiste performs onstage at the TIME100 Summit 2022 at Jazz at Lincoln Center on June 7, 2022 in New York City. Jon Batiste performs onstage at the TIME100 Summit 2022 at Jazz at Lincoln Center on June 7, 2022 in New York City.Jemal Countess—Getty Images for TIME [Jon Batiste](https://time.com/collection-post/6177738/jon-batiste/ "undefined") isn’t just a Grammy, Oscar, and Golden-Globe-winning musician. He’s also been a voice for social change—not to mention the bandleader and musical director on _The Late Show with Stephen Colbert_. At the 20222 [TIME100 Summit](https://ti.me/3mnpwji "undefined") on Tuesday in New York City’s Jazz at Lincoln Center, Batiste opened the morning with a powerful rendition of two songs, “Cry” and “Don’t Stop,” alongside a string quartet. His conversation with comedian, producer, writer, and host Amber Ruffin a little later in the morning solidified why Batiste is on the TIME100 list this year—and why he has become such a beloved, and necessary, member of the music and entertainment worlds in the U.S. Ruffin opened the conversation by asking Batiste why, exactly, it’s been 14 years since a Black artist has won the Album of the Year [Grammy](https://time.com/6164101/grammys-recap-2022/ "undefined"), something that Batiste accomplished just this year. “Well, shucks. I think there’s a lot of things that happen that separate cultures, and unfortunately in this country we’ve had a severance of cultural understanding,” Batiste said. “The communities are just now starting to synthesize.” He also commented on the importance of not siloing artists into different genres or categories based on what they look like or where they’re from. “Music is a conduit to express our shared humanity,” he said. Plus, creating has been a productive way for him to deal with the turbulence of the past few years. “Music expresses things that you can’t put into words, so that helps. Sound is a frequency, and the frequency vibrates, and if you connect to that vibration, it can tell you things.” Ruffin and Batiste also discussed the legacy of Batiste’s hometown of New Orleans on his music, his childhood love for—of all things—coding, and the power of jazz, a subject Batiste delved into with his work on the Oscar-winning animated film _Soul_. “It’s so hard to put a finger on, but it’s important that we have that type of art form and culture in the world,” Batiste said about jazz. “Because if we lose that, we lose something very intrinsically important to our existence.” As for what a musician like Batiste does after his blockbuster year? “You keep creating,” he said. Batiste isn’t slowing down: he’s set to make his feature film debut in an upcoming remake of _The Color Purple_, adapted from Alice Walker’s classic novel, alongside Fantasia Barrino, Taraji P. Henson, Danielle Brooks, and Colman Domingo. [The TIME100 Summit](https://time.com/collection/time100-summit-2022/ "undefined") is the live event extension of the annual [TIME100 list](https://time.com/collection/100-most-influential-people-2022/ "undefined") of the most influential people in the world. It convenes leaders from the global TIME 100 community to spotlight solutions and encourage action toward a better world. This year’s summit features a variety of impactful speakers across a diverse range of sectors, including politics, business, health and science, culture, and more. Speakers for the 2022 TIME100 Summit include Apple CEO [Tim Cook](https://time.com/collection/100-most-influential-people-2022/6177769/tim-cook-titans/ "undefined"), producer [Mindy Kaling](https://time.com/collection/time100-companies-2022/6159385/mindy-kaling-production-company-interview/ "undefined"), filmmaker [Taika Waititi](https://time.com/collection/100-most-influential-people-2022/6177807/taika-waititi/ "undefined"), U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate [John Kerry](https://time.com/6166419/john-kerry-ocean-climate-change-interview/ "undefined"), Barbadian Prime Minister [Mia Mottley](https://time.com/collection/100-most-influential-people-2022/6177695/mia-mottley/ "undefined"), NBA champion, entrepreneur, and philanthropist [Dwyane Wade](https://time.com/collection/100-most-influential-people-2020/5888447/dwyane-wade/ "undefined"), former U.S. Rep. [Gabby Giffords](https://time100.time.com/2013/04/18/time-100/slide/gabrielle-giffords/ "undefined"), ‘me too’ founder [Tarana Burke](https://time.com/collection/most-influential-people-2018/5217577/tarana-burke/ "undefined"), ACLU deputy director for transgender justice [Chase Strangio](https://time.com/collection/100-most-influential-people-2020/5888158/chase-strangio/ "undefined"), founder and creative director [Christian Siriano](https://time.com/collection/most-influential-people-2018/5217553/christian-siriano/ "undefined"), Brother Vellies founder and creative director [Aurora James](https://time.com/collection/100-most-influential-people-2021/6095806/aurora-james/ "undefined"), Netflix head of global TV [Bela Bajaria](https://time.com/collection/100-most-influential-people-2022/6177814/bela-bajaria/ "undefined"), author and poet [Cathy Park Hong](https://time.com/collection/100-most-influential-people-2021/6096088/cathy-park-hong/ "undefined"), Olympic freestyle skiing champion [Eileen Gu](https://time.com/collection/100-most-influential-people-2022/6177852/eileen-gu/ "undefined"), filmmaker [Betsy West](https://time.com/5375692/summer-documentaries/ "undefined"), filmmaker [Julie Cohen](https://time.com/5375692/summer-documentaries/ "undefined"), BioNTech SE senior vice president [Dr. Katalin Karikó](https://time.com/collection/100-most-influential-people-2021/6095973/katalin-kariko/ "undefined"), _Ukrayinska Pravda_ editor in chief [Sevgil Musaieva](https://time.com/collection/100-most-influential-people-2022/6177825/sevgil-musaieva/ "undefined"), and TIME co-chair and Salesforce chair and co-CEO Marc Benioff. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/time100-summit-2022/6184347/jon-batiste-time100-summit/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/time100-summit-2022/6184347/jon-batiste-time100-summit/"},"headline":"Jon Batiste Opens the TIME100 Summit With Music—and Reflects on Its Power","datePublished":"2022-06-07T15:36:51.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-03T00:03:43.794Z","description":"At the 2022 TIME100 Summit, Jon Batiste opened the day with a performance—and discussed the power of music and jazz with Amber Ruffin.","url":"https://time.com/collections/time100-summit-2022/6184347/jon-batiste-time100-summit/","keywords":["nationpod","sponsorshipblock","TIME100 Summit 2022","time1002022"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1878425df9e9dc15/698a32910116823dc3981f32/time-100-summit-jon-batiste-performance.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Raisa Bruner","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/"}],"creator":"Raisa Bruner","articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1878425df9e9dc15/698a32910116823dc3981f32/time-100-summit-jon-batiste-performance.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/time100-summit-2022/6184347/jon-batiste-time100-summit/","name":"Jon Batiste Opens the TIME100 Summit With Music—and Reflects on Its Power"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Jon Batiste Performs at the 2022 TIME100 Summit","description":"Musician Jon Batiste performs at the 2022 TIME100 Summit.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/49kK9zlk/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2022-06-07T15:33:00.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/49kK9zlk.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/collections/time100-summit-2022/6184347/jon-batiste-time100-summit/","duration":"PT11M50S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/collections/time100-summit-2022/6184347/jon-batiste-time100-summit/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```