Batiste Returns to His New Orleans Piano Roots Thursday, and Our Picks for Friday at Jazz Fest

Jon Batiste and the headphones he wore for one song

Vampire Weekend—sure, but there’s a lot to look forward to on the best Jazz Fest lineup so far this year.

When Jon Batiste opened his show Friday afternoon on the Shell Gentilly Stage with “Tell the Truth” and “Freedom,” it wasn’t clear where the show could go from there. It was about as bulletproof a start as you could imagine, invoking Stevie Wonder in the first song, then turning loose a street party onstage to follow it, including a dance break from his nephew and a walk-on from Zigaboo Modiste and members of the Preservation Hall Jazz Band. “Freedom” became ecstatic, so much so that it seemed like Batiste could only go down from there.

He did, briefly, with “Raindance” from last year’s World Music Radio, but really it was a way to recenter the conversation. His performance on it and “Worship” soon after embraced remix concepts that emerged from from hip-hop, but it remained of a piece with the first 20 minutes of the show. Batiste’s default answer is yes to musical ideas that connect him with the community of people around him, onstage and off. Since hip-hop connects people, of course he’d incorporate it, but he did it his way, with style and impeccable musicality.

When Batiste took a break for a James Booker-esque solo piano moment merging classical music and “Tipitina,” that was impressive. When he ventured on, explaining how Allen Toussaint would play it in a minor key (“Ascension Day” on The River in Reverse), he did a convincing imitation of Toussaint’s playing. When he went on to perform Fats Domino’s “Ain’t That a Shame” true to Domino’s sing-along simplicity, something was clearly going on. Batiste kept this piano concept going into “Big Chief,” during which he brought back the band, and that 20 to 30 minutes was probably the fullest expression of a New Orleans music aesthetic that we really haven’t seen since the Neville Brothers retired.

In a year where classic New Orleans polyglot funk is in short supply at the Fair Grounds, Batiste flew that flag his way. It was hard not to wonder if he wanted to be a regular Jazz Fest closer, or could want it. If it was yet another excellent one-off show for Batiste, so it goes, but the show, the response and the massive crowd seeing it have to make all concerned including us think about what could be.

Saturday looks like the strongest day at Jazz Fest so far, and mine is largely shaped by Boyfriend. I’ll interview her in the Allison Miner Music Heritage Stage at 3:30 p.m., so I’ll also see her set at 1:30 on the Shell Gentilly Stage. That’s not the way I usually fest, but since Boyfriend is musically and conceptually provocative and fun, I’d see her show and interview even if I wasn’t involved.

Today I have Milky Ways from Lilli Lewis Project (Lagniappe Stage, 1:35 p.m.) and Sierra Green and the Giants (Blues Tent, 12:25 p.n.), so I think they’ll be good. In our round-up of Colombian bands, Gaita Loop (Expedia Cultural Exchange Pavilion, 11:30 a.m.), Kombilesa Mi (Expedia Cultural Exchange Pavilion, 2:05 p.m.) and Bomba Estereo (Congo Square Stage, 2:50 p.m.) were three of the acts I focused on.

Hurray for the Riff Raff (Shell Gentilly Stage, 4:30 p.m.) - Alynda Segarra’s ability to emotionally connect her songs to her audience is a powerful thing, and on the recent The Past is Still Alive, she partially returns to the folk/Americana roots that got her in the game.

Flagboy Giz (Jazz & Heritage Stage, 5:55 p.m.) - Admittedly, I usually want my Mardi Gras Indians to be blasts from the past, but I’m there for Flagboy Giz’s hip-hop update of the tradition.

Vampire Weekend (Shell Gentilly Stage, 5:30 p.m.) has a new album, Only God Was Above Us, and it has got very strong reviews. The New York Times’ Jon Pareles led an episode of their “Popcast” podcast to talk with other critics about the album. And if you’re a fan, you might also want to see the Vampire Campfire series on YouTube—three videos of the band sitting around a fire and talking about stuff directly and loosely connected to the new album.

Finally, last year we got an excellent Milky Way from People Museum (Shell Gentilly Stage, 11:15 a.m.), and we interviewed blues women Ghalia Volt (Lagniappe Stage, 12:35 p.m.) about her musical and physical journey to New Orleans.