At thirty-seven, Batiste is already part of New Orleans musical folklore, having replaced Zigaboo Modeliste in The Meters (now The Funky Meters) in 1989. In recent years he’s branched out to play and record with George Porter, Papa Grows Funk, Robbie Robertson, and Harry Connick Jr. (check out his opening fill on the title track of She), as well as compose for and record his own band, Orchestra In Da Hood.Batiste credits many New Orleans funk drummers for inspiration, but most of all Stanley Ratcliff and Zigaboo Modeliste. “When you hear me going off,” he says, “you hear Stanley. And my father played keyboards in The Meters, so I used to fall asleep right underneath Zig while they were practicing. I got his flavor mixed up with Stanley’s flavor, and I came up with a flavor that no one else has. You know what’s incredible? Those great players got a chance to watch me, and then went back and practiced the stuff I was doing. That ain’t no lie.”