Jayvee Music Reviews with Jeff Vallet

Jon Batiste and Stay Human have got something here. It will definitely make you stand up and notice.
Social Music reflects the dapper 26-year-old’s evolution over the past several years.
“This album documents the evolution of the band,” he says. With Batiste on piano, vocals and melodica, (which he has renamed the harmonaboard) and his band Stay Human – Eddie Barbash on alto saxophone, Iband Ruhumbika on tuba and Joe Saylor on drums and tambourine – Social Music reflects an extraordinary range.
On “D-Flat Movement,” the album’s opening track, you can hear Batiste elegantly dueting with the sounds of thunder. Meanwhile, “It’s Alright (Why You Gotta)” slinks along on a seductively funky cha-cha groove, while “Express Yourself” jitters on an infectious harmonaboard riff, it’s encouraging message balanced precariously all the while.
Throughout the album, elements of jazz, Americana and classical music nuzzle up against beats that could light up a club dance floor, and standards like “St. James Infirmary” and “Naima’s Love Song” nestle in alongside spoken-word samples like “The Jazzman Speaks” (featuring the voice of jazz legend Jelly Roll Morton) and statements of spiritual yearning like “Let God Lead.”
I loved the album. Quality songs from start to finish.