Larry Batiste is as a producer, vocalist, songwriter, publisher, instrumentalist, arranger, and educator. He is musical director for the Grammy Awards Pre-Telecast, and the TEC Awards. Larry co-owns Pure Delite Music and has written and published over 300 songs for artists such as Al Jarreau, Patti Austin, Shanice, Lisa Fischer, the Yellowjackets, the Dramatics, the Chi-Lites, Lenny Williams, and the Dazz Band. His songs have appeared in television shows such as Jag, Nash Bridges, Scrubs, Passions, The Young and The Restless, and All My Children.

He is a co-writer on the song Dreamin', recorded by rap artist Young Jeezy featuring Keisha Cole. The CD has sold 2 million copies to date, and reached #1 on Billboard's top 200 Pop and Hip-Hop charts. Larry also reached the top 20 on Billboard's Dance charts this year as an artist singing a duet with dance diva Jeanie Tracy on the song entitled, "Put Some Funk In Your Shoes."

Larry has performed and recorded on projects that include movies Rent, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Stuart Little, Snow Dogs and The Magical World of Disney; video games Sims Playstation and Leap Frog Education; the NBA Warriors' basketball team theme; and artists Michael Bolton, Whitney Houston, Stevie Wonder, Steely Dan, Steve Miller, Sting, Dweezil Zappa, Chaka Khan, Tony Bennett, Nancy Wilson, Charlie Pride, Joe Satriani, Chuck Levell of the Rolling Stones, Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead, and Neil Young.

In 2005, Larry was a recipient of the Bay Area Blues Society "Lifetime Achievement Award". He has been musical director for theater productions, such as "Pajama Game," "Moms" starring Whoopi Goldberg, and "Jukebox" starring Danny Glover. Larry teaches The Art & Business of Songwriting at San Francisco State University's Music Recording Industry (MRI) program. He gives his time and expertise back to the community as a youth mentor, music educator, and performing artist. In addition to being on the Board of Music in Schools Today, he is also active with the San Francisco Performing Arts Library & Museum (SFPALM), and the Recording Academy (producers of The Grammy Awards), where he has served two terms as president of the San Francisco chapter, and is currently a National Trustee with the organization.

In his own words:
At 9 years old, I started playing trombone. I remembr the first day I met the music teacher it was a very intimidating experience. She asked what instrument I would like to play, and like most of the little 4th grade boys, my response was "Drums!" I remember a resounding, "NO, NO, NO!!!!" Feeling a little deflated, I went on to name all of the instruments in the rhythm section family (bass, guitar, piano), and her response was still the same.

"You must play a horn," she proclaimed as she rattled off the names of a bunch of horns. She talked so fast that I couldn't catch the names of all of them, but the last one was trombone. "Well, what will it be?" she repeated several times. "Trombone," I replied, and that would end up being my major in college.

Fortunately, by the 5th grade we had a new teacher and I became excited about playing music. I soon developed a love for the sound and character of the trombone. I was intrigued by the ability to slide between notes and the placement of the instrument in orchestra, big band and R&B arrangements.

In middle school, I had the good fortune of having a music teacher named Bill Bell. He is so talented, on point, no nonsense, hip and a master at working with youth. He had a way of making every child feel special, and he was in tune to them personally. He was everyone's musical father. One of his favorite phrases was "practice at home," and he would be quick to expose you if you were the one making your section sound sloppy.

I began playing in bands outside of the school as well. I formed my first band with friends Clayton Richardson and Michael Rogers. We called ourselves "The Soul Experience Band".

While attending Castlemont High School in Oakland, I remained in contact with Bill Bell by participating in UC Berkeley's Young Musician's Program. I expanded new musical territories by joining the hip and famed High School choir, the Castleers under the direction of the late Phil Reeder, who taught us not only about singing, but showmanship as well.

The choir was invited to the White House, and we toured Europe in my 12th grade year. It was also that year that Bill Bell hired me for my first professional job. I didn't know too much about the type of job it was. I only knew the date, time, dress and how much money it paid. Yes, I was going to make money!!! It wasn't until I arrived at the gig that I realized that we were accompanying jazz legend Billy Eckstine. I was so excited, that I could hardly keep my mind on the music.

It was during the 12th grade that I had to take a hard look at what my career would be. After extensive research of the music business, my longtime friend Clayton Richardson (whom I renamed Claytoven) and I decided to form a publishing company which we named Pure Delite Music. Today, we have over 250 songs placed on records, television and film. We both went on to college, and afterwards began recording and co-producing a group called Bill Summers and Summers Heat. Bill Summers is a world-renowned percussionist who had just spent years playing with Herbie Hancock and was the percussion arranger for the television mini-series "Roots" produced by Quincy Jones. We recorded an album on the Fantasy label and several successful records on MCA Records. From there, I started writing and recording with other groups, and a career was born.

Our publishing company produced song demos in order to let artists hear the songs. Almost all of our demos were recorded with my partner Claytoven and I playing all of the music and singing all of the vocals. Before we knew it, we were getting vocal gigs.

Bill Summers, who now lives in New Orleans , co-founded a Latin jazz super group, Los Hombres Calientes. The group recorded a song that was written by Bill, Kevin Toney (the Blackbirds) and myself on their CD, New Congo Square: Volume 3, and was nominated for a Grammy Award in 2002.

I can always recall the songs that were popular at significant times in my life. I believe there's a song for every emotion. I love writing songs. The process of songwriting for me is very un-calculated. Song ideas come from varied sources of inspiration. Some of the influences include: mood, conversations, travel and life situations. When writing for particular projects, I have to think about genre and music markets. Lately, most of my song ideas come while I'm in my car. I guess that's because I rarely have the luxury of sitting at a piano and being creative. I keep a tape recorder in my car at all times.

My advice to a young person considering a career in music would be to learn all you can about your axe and the music industry as it relates to your situation. For example, if you are a session vocalist, it's not enough to be a perfectly skilled singer (you're expected to be that). It's also important to know as much as you can about song structure, arranging/harmony and a basic understanding of production and engineering so that you know what the producer is looking for and how you can better help him or her to achieve their goal. You'd also be in a better position to make a contribution to the project, which would make you a "Must Have" for future dates.

I am a product of public school music programs and quite frankly don't know where I would be without the music programs that I grew up with. Music is a very difficult business and most of the time requires that you have several marketable skills within it. I work for many people, but have never worked a straight (9-5) job, but as a self-employed music person I have several jobs in the music business. Some of them include: Producer, Songwriter, Vocalist, Arranger, Band Leader, Musical Director and so forth. All of my jobs require that I have a very good understanding about music, instrument ranges, sound and business. Without an education I would be completely out of luck. The most important thing to remember while working in the music industry is to always keep your love for music in the forefront.