Jon Batiste – Black Mozart (Decca)
“I'm a kid from Kenner, Louisiana, who grew up in a musical family, in a music environment,” Jon Batiste says. “And then I went to Juilliard, and I'm just expressing the authenticity of all of the different music and lineages that I have been blessed to be a part of and trying to give people more beauty in the world.”
Jon Batiste believes we all have a light within us and that his role is to help draw that light out so it can fully shine. He’s done that in so many ways across many genres and cultures. He’s won Grammy Awards in eight distinct categories including Americana, jazz, R&B and contemporary classical. He earned an Oscar for Best Original Score for Disney/Pixar’s Soul. He’s performed with legends like Wynton Marsalis, Stevie Wonder and Prince. He was the subject of an acclaimed documentary, American Symphony, and from 2015 to 2022, he was the bandleader for the Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
In 2024, Batiste kicked off a piano series with Beethoven Blues. Now he’s expanding that series with three new releases inspired by his favorite pianist Thelonius Monk and by composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Batiste’s latest recording, Black Mozart, is about commonality, improvisation, expression and innocence, in that spiritual realm where Mozart lives.
“It just has the innocence of truth,” Batiste says about Mozart’s music. “And that's really one of the things that drew me back to it.”
Listen to the full episode above, and find the extended interview in the audio player at top.
Resources
Jon Batiste – Batiste Piano Series (artist’s official store)
Jon Batiste – Black Mozart (Amazon)
Jon Batiste (official site)
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