Alvin Batiste

Alvin Batiste was a New Orleans clarinetist often referred to as a "Legendary Pioneer of Jazz.  He was a true Renaissance man- considered a music pioneer, master teacher, outstanding composer, arranger, an inspiring mentor, as well as a stellar performer. He was also an explorative, avant-garde player who wrote countless musical arraignments but remained under-recognized and under-recorded throughout his career.

Batiste, who was a childhood friend of Ed Blackwell and spent time in Los Angeles in 1956 playing with Ornette Coleman, could have “made it big” as a performer and recording artist. Instead, he chose the life of an educator in Louisiana.

He was the first African-American student to perform as a guest soloist playing with the New Orleans Philharmonic on Mozart’s Concerto.  He also played with the Ray Charles Orchestra and the American Jazz Quintet and recorded with AFO Records, the company credited with New Orleans Modern Jazz. He was a member of the Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Music Fraternity, performed on two Julian Cannonball Adderly recordings, and made three albums with Clarinet Summit in the 1980s (a quartet also including John Carter, David Murray, and Jimmy Hamilton). He was later commissioned by the National Endowment for the Arts to compose a concerto for African instruments and orchestra. He went on to record only a handful of albums/CD’s between the 1980’s and his death in 2007; his last release- Marsalis Music Honors Series- Alvin Batiste, in which he played with Branford Marsalis and many other notable jazz musicians.   

Alvin’s career spanned more than five decades during which he received countless awards and honors. These include:

• The National Association of Jazz Educators’ National Humanitarian Award
• The International Association of Jazz Educators’ Lifetime Achievement Award
• Offbeat Magazine’s Lifetime Achievement Award for Art Education
• Governor’s Award for Outstanding Contribution to Art Education
• The Southern University Distinguished Service Award
• Southern University’s Jazz Institute (founded by Batiste) renamed the Alvin Batiste Jazz Institute
• The Louis Armstrong Award
• National Black Music Caucus Outstanding Achievement Award
• Big Easy Awards- 1995 Jazz Artist of the Year
• The Jay Hay Fellows Award
• The Artist Fellowship Award by the Louisiana Division of the Arts

Through out his career, Alvin played and explored in several musical streams; jazz, classical, gospel, blues, diasporan (Cuba, Brazil, and African) and computer-based music. He performed regularly at a variety of local venues between New Orleans and Baton Rouge including the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, He hosted the radio show Jazz Sessions at WBRH and conducted workshops/seminars at various universities including Harvard http://www.myspace.com/alvinbatiste/music 
http://www.alvinbatiste.net/University, Yale University, University of Michigan, Michigan State, UCLA, University of Paris, and University of Bamako (Mali). He appeared in concert throughout West Africa, Europe, and the United States including Carnegie Hall.