Jon Batiste

A pianist, singer and composer from the New Orleans area, Jon Batiste belongs to the lineage of Louisiana musical families while following a distinctly personal path that blends jazz, soul, R&B, pop and gospel influences. Trained at the Juilliard School in New York, Batiste first attracted attention in the city’s jazz clubs before forming the band Stay Human, with whom he developed a performance approach emphasizing circulation between stage and audience. From 2015 he reached a much wider audience by becoming musical director and bandleader for the Late Show with Stephen Colbert, a role he held until 2022 while continuing his recording projects. His albums Hollywood Africans (2018), WE ARE (2021) and World Music Radio (2023) establish a musical language where New Orleans heritage, pop songwriting, jazz harmonies and vocal arrangements reminiscent of gospel choirs coexist, in formats ranging from solo piano to expanded ensembles. Batiste also composes for film and television, notably co-writing the score for the animated film Soul (2020) with Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, which earned him several international awards. Between club shows, major festival stages and occasional collaborations with jazz musicians as well as pop artists, Jon Batiste maintains a constant commitment to live performance and collective groove.