The former band leader for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert returns to talk with Terry Gross about his new album, Beethoven Blues. We also talk about his early years, like how he had a reputation at Juilliard for playing his melodica everywhere and breaking into song in class. It nearly resulted in him getting kicked out. Now he serves on the board.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
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This is Fresh Air. I'm Terry Gross. It's always a joy when John Batiste joins us at the piano, and that's how I felt about the session we recorded last week with him at the piano. Batiste was the band leader and music director of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert from its premiere in 2015 until 2022.
That same year, his album called We Are received 11 Grammy nominations in seven different categories including and won five Grammys, including Album of the Year. He wrote the score for this year's film Saturday Night about the first SNL broadcast. He also appears in the film as musician Billy Preston, the first musical guest.
Batiste is a jazz musician who also studied classical music at Juilliard, where he got his BA and MA and is now on the board. But his music is more expansive than jazz and classical, as you can tell just by the varied Grammy categories in which he's been nominated for or won awards.
Jazz performance, American roots song, contemporary classical composition, jazz instrumental, R&B album, improvised jazz solo, pop duo or group performance, and original score for the animated film Soul. He currently has two Grammy nominations, Best Music Film and Best Song Written for Visual Media, for the documentary American Symphony.
The film is about composing his American Symphony and performing the premiere in Carnegie Hall. The film also developed into something totally unexpected, a document of the period his wife, Sulayka Jawad, was diagnosed with a recurrence of leukemia, which had been in remission for over 10 years.
The first and second occurrences required bone marrow transplants, which necessitates brutal doses of chemo. We'll talk about what that period was like for him a little later. The occasion for his appearance today is his new album, Beethoven Blues. It features his reimaginings of Beethoven compositions.
Since we're fortunate to have him at the piano, he'll play some of the music from that album and more. John Batiste, welcome back to Fresh Air. I love your new album. The documentary about you and your wife's bone marrow transplant was really moving, so it's a pleasure to have you back on our show. And how is she?
She's doing great. She's really something else. She's a very special person.
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