NAMM 2025 in Anaheim featured a jam-packed schedule of musical stars that appeared on grand stages and in surprise performances on smaller stages like Stevie Wonder.
As you entered the halls, descended the staircases or walked into the exhibitor’s showrooms, world class talent was usually right around the corner. Though Jon Batiste, Roseanne Cash, Jack White, Patrice Rushen were among the featured honorees, NAMM also offered a chance to discover Mia Asano, a classically trained pop innovator and Laurence Juber (acoustic wizard and McCartney Wings Alumni) .
Few have blended musical genres with the artistry, skill, and sheer joy of Jon Batiste. Batiste, the recipient of NAMM’s prestigious Music for Life Award, was also privileged to perform the National Anthem at the 2025 Super Bowl in his home town of New Orleans. As the son of Maurice Batiste, bassist for Jackie Wilson and Isaac Hayes, and the nephew of renowned clarinetist Alvin Batiste, Jon comes from one of the most celebrated musical families. His circles of influence and friendship also include one of his mentors Ellis Marsalis and his son Wynton.
Though many know Batiste from his work on the Colbert Tonight Show with his band, Stay Human (all Julliard Alumni like himself), his album Social Music was topping the charts before his late night tenure. Among the awards Jon has received are a 2022 Grammy for the album We Are and an Academy Award for the 2020 moviescore for Soul, In addition, he was the subject of one of the most moving musical documentaries in recent memory, the 2025 Grammy winner American Symphony, in which Batiste struggles to compose a symphony as his wife battles cancer.
Despite all the accolades and awards it is the curiosity that drives Jon Batiste to create and finding that special alchemy with others, allows those ideas to blossom. Something he elaborated on when asked to offer advice for those looking for a path forward in music. “A path, well to me, curiosity is more than a path, it’s a way of life,” Batiste explained. “I believe if you have that spark of curiosity that drives you to do something for people, there are people that it’s going to resonate with. You just got to protect yourself so that you could survive and thrive long enough to reach the people that it’s meant to reach.”
In 2025 Jon Batiste will be taking a new step forward. His wife Suleika Jaouad, a New York Times best selling author, has written The Book of Alchemy– A creative practice for an inspired life. Suleika, who is again battling cancer, will join Jon’s new 2025 tour. The piano which she painted in just 36 hours before the Super Bowl is now on display in The New Orleans Museum of Art.
One of the most memorable moments was Jackson Browne’s presentation to Roseanne Cash. It provided insights into the music, character and scope of her talent that escaped even longtime fans like me. “She made her first album for a German label. She studied acting at the Lee Strasberg Theater Institute in Los Angeles. She has a unique breadth of experience fueled by intellectual curiosity and a great sense of independence,” Jackson Browne explained. “She has an awesome gift with language.
“We should all read her memoir, entitled Composed, which I will read from now,” Browne said. “What I was thinking then And what I understood, what I understand more clearly now is that it’s not just the singing you bring home with you. It’s the constant measuring of ideas and words if you’re a songwriter. And the daily handling of your instrument if you’re a musician. And the humming and scratching and pushing and testing of the voice. The reveling in the melodies if you’re a singer. More than that, it is the effort to straddle two worlds and the struggle to make the transition from the creative realms to those of daily life back with grace. My father (Johnny Cash) did all of these as a habit of being. He provided a template for me of how to live with integrity as an artist day to day.”
Jackson Browne went on to detail a lifetime of altruistic accomplishments that are worthy of their own reward. Roseanne uses her music and talents as a platform for social advocacy, supporting causes like curbing teen violence, feeding the hungry, and aiding wounded veterans. She has personally performed for recovering U.S. troops at Walter Reed Army Hospital, offering them comfort and appreciation. Roseanne then came to the podium and ended the night with a truly heartfelt coda about artistry, community and compassion .
“I can’t tell you how moved I am by what you just said about me. I can’t even take it in. But one thing I want to say is, look around you, Roseanne said. “This is your community. And community is the most important thing we can do right now, is to create little communities of love, kindness, care about each other, music, and art, because that, as Nietzsche said, without music, life would be a mistake.”
Patrice Rushen, recipient of NAMM’s Lifetime Achievement Award got one of the biggest shout outs at The 2025 Grammys from Alicia Keys, recipient of the Dr. Dre Global Impact Award as an example of a groundbreaking breaking female record producer. But along with her Grammy winning “Forget Me Nots” and her stint as the musical director for the Grammys, it was her mentoring of students as a professor at USC’s Thornton School of Music and as Ambassador for Artistry in Education at Berklee School of Music, which hit home to me. I never had an A in my entire high school, prep school or college, until Junior College music instructors Phillip Ienni (SF Opera) and John Krueger, showed me a path forward. Previous to that my learning disability sent me in an “unhappy” direction as in the late 60’s the science of disabilities was lacking. I got all A’s in music school, my speech turned around and so did my life. Though I was offered a scholarship to Boulder’s College of Music I went on to practice music therapy to share the magic.
Though NAMM 2025 shows off some of the most significant technical innovations it is PEOPLE who create them, not as yet, machines. Guitarist Jeffrey “Skunk” Baxter (Doobie Brothers. Steely Dan) presented this year’s award for The NAMM Tech Innovation Award to Jack White with a captivating amount of insight and wit. “The NAMM Tech Innovation Award is always bestowed upon an individual who takes the tools of the music trade and goes way beyond what most people expect,” Baxter explained. “Never used the word bestowed. I like that. Bestowed. So in the past, this honor has gone to a long list of genuine living legends, including Sir Paul McCartney, Pete Townshend, Herbie Hancock, Stevie Wonder, so here’s why NAMM is proud for tonight’s recipient to join this illustrious group. Innovation in music isn’t just about creating sounds. It’s about reimagining the tools we use to make them. Few embody this spirit more than Jack White. Jack White has always pushed boundaries. Jack’s creative reach extends to film as well, contributing to soundtracks for projects like Cold Mountain.” (He appeared in the 2003 film Cold Mountain as a character named Georgia and performed five songs for the Cold Mountain soundtrack.)
Jack White then came to the podium to make his acceptance speech. “Someone told me once when I was younger that Thomas Edison’s best invention was really Menlo Park because he brought together all the people in a room,” White explained. “I love all the tinkerers and the mad men who are in shops and in little basements working by themselves. But often it takes a team and a whole village to make those products come to life. I commend those who take chances and do things that aren’t gonna sell or aren’t popular at the time. But you think there’s beauty in them. You create something that other artists can use as a tool to create art. I thank you for that. Please, please keep doing that.”
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