Batiste Brothers band co-founder Paul Batiste dies

By Fritz Esker
Contributing Writer

Local bandleader, musician and educator Paul A. Batiste passed away on April 25 following a battle with lung cancer. He was 74.

Batiste co-founded the Batiste Brothers Band in Metairie in 1974. The band played funk and blues and featured Paul and his brothers Russell, Peter, Michael and David. Paul played the guitar and flute and served as the band’s songwriter. He is also the uncle of Grammy-winning performer Jon Batiste.

The Batiste Brothers Band’s singles included hits like “Dancing Shoes” and “Hooked On You.” They opened for legendary acts like Wilson Pickett and The Temptations. They recorded songs with Allen Toussaint and Isaac Hayes.

Batiste grew up in New Orleans after his parents moved to the Crescent City from New York and opened a grocery and hardware store in the 9th Ward. He had six brothers. After growing up listening to their parents play music, four of the Batiste children became professional musicians.

Just as Batiste’s parents passed on a love of music to him, he passed on a love of music to his only son, Travis, who spoke to WWL-TV after his father’s passing.

“A lot of the times I would just wake up to music playing in the background and then I would go to sleep to music playing in the background,” Travis said to WWL on April 26. He added that his father had a unique ability to connect with others and “elevate them in ways that they didn’t think they could be elevated.”

Batiste’s nephew Damon posted about his family’s loss on Facebook.

“Jazz Fest was our family time,” Damon posted on Facebook. “New Orleans will never be the same for us nor will Jazz Fest.”

Batiste graduated from Southern University of New Orleans in 1978 before serving in the U.S. Army until 1981.

During his career, Batiste served as a music teacher in several schools, starting at McDonogh 35 and John McDonogh High School. In one of his teaching jobs, he directed the first-ever marching band at Sophie B. Wright Charter School.

In a February 2007 article in The Times-Picayune, he said he had to teach the students to beat on textbooks and drum pads before the school secured instruments. He emphasizes the importance of music in the city’s rebirth after the devastation of the levee failures following Hurricane Katrina. “Marching bands, the ones that are developing, are helping the city to come back from the storm,” Batiste told The Times-Picayune.

After Katrina, Batiste also created the nonprofit Paul A. Batiste Conservatory of the Arts and the Batiste Cultural Academy at Xavier University of Louisiana.

In 2011, Batiste published his autobiography, “(Gon’ Be Dat) New Orleans Music: Memoirs of Paul Batiste.”

“I am a teacher and band director. I have developed skills which combine methods and techniques to conform to today’s advanced students. As a band director, I have started music programs from elementary school to high school. In addition, I have routinely started band programs from scratch,” Batiste wrote in the book’s introduction.

New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell released an official statement mourning Batiste’s passing.

“Mr. Batiste dedicated his life to service – in the military, in the classroom, and on the stage – shaping generations of musicians and preserving the rich legacy of New Orleans music,” the statement said. “His spirit will live on through the countless students he taught, the music he shared, and the community he loved so deeply.”

Details on funeral arrangements were not available by press time.

This article originally published in the May 5, 2025 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.