Alvin Batiste: Music Came –
Clarinetist Alvin Batiste was a musician’s musician in New Orleans — he started out alongside Ellis Marsalis and Harold Battiste, and became one of the most important jazz educators ever, mentoring generations of students. His approach to music wasn’t just a curriculum, it was a philosophy — including the idea that there is no separation between types of music, and that they all are based in the same experiences.
In this episode of New Orleans Calling, host George Ingmire explores Alvin’s life and philosophy in his own words, from archived interviews. And he also speaks with one of his star pupils in his final years, clarinetist Gregory Agid, who describes meeting and studying with Alvin, and eventually becoming a protege to whom Alvin passed down one of his most difficult compositions, not through sheet music but through note-by-note practice over many months.
New Orleans Calling airs Monday afternoons from 4 to 5 p.m.