Colbert's bandleader Jon Batiste brings his Love Riot to Philly
It's lunchtime at the Ed Sullivan Theater, and Jon Batiste is taking a break in the midst of his 11-hour day to talk about his new job as network TV bandleader of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
It's lunchtime at the Ed Sullivan Theater, and Jon Batiste is taking a break in the midst of his 11-hour day to talk about his new job as network TV bandleader of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
The 28-year-old jazz musician from Kenner, La., will bring his band Stay Human to the Zellerbach Theatre at the Annenberg Center on Saturday. Batiste - a pianist, singer, and "harmonaboard" player - is part of one of New Orleans music's most prominent families. He's released five albums as a leader - Social Music (2013) is the newest - and he's been a supporting musician for such major players as Cassandra Wilson, Abbey Lincoln, and Wynton Marsalis.
On Saturday, in addition to playing the Annenberg, he'll lead two morning sessions for students at the Curtis Institute of Music. Later, he'll be joined by Stay Human for a late-night jam session at the City Tap House in West Philadelphia.
Batiste got the plum assignment as Colbert's bandleader after guesting on the host's Comedy Central show in 2014. Batiste's performance spilled into the street in a musical "Love Riot." He didn't realize the gig served as an audition for a job he didn't know he wanted.
Question: How's the new gig?
Answer: It's amazing. It's one of those things that you dream of. At least for me, I dreamed of collaborating with people across different genres who are in different art forms, like comedy and drama and dance, and being able to reach people of all different demographics. I never thought it would come in the form of being a bandleader on a late show, but . . . it has.
There's a conventional model of how to do a late-night show. Colbert's the host. You're the bandleader. What are your ambitions to broaden that?
We're trying to bring an energy to it that is different than what you've normally felt. Stephen's whole thing is about joy. It's basically a show about love and about people from all walks of life. And that's what Social Music is really about. The idea of music being something that can happen anywhere. It erupts like a "Love Riot" or a mobile concert that could happen anywhere. . . . You can't hate the person next to you when you're laughing and dancing together.
That's the energy that Stephen wants to bring to the late-show format. He wants people to think and people to question, and he's got politics as a big part of his thing. But the overarching concept is the Joy Machine.
Your audition was really on The Colbert Report.
The camera captured the first time we ever talked to each other.
You gave him a hard time. You were talking about improvisation and you said, "You like to read from scripts." It looked like that got under his skin a bit.
I was a fan of his in a passive way. But I hadn't studied his background in terms of his having studied at Second City in Chicago and really having that pedigree. So I didn't know who I was talking to. But looking back it was like, "Actually, this guy is an improviser."
When you were offered the job, did you have to think twice?
I thought for a long time. There were so many people after that first Colbert Report interview that were impressed by the synergy we had during the interview. People everywhere we'd go would say, "You should be the bandleader, it would be great for jazz, it would be great for the music." But I was completely against it.. . . But then Stephen called me, and at the end of that conversation, I clearly changed in my perspective when I realized this is not going to be a typical late show. That's when I realized he's on the same wavelength in his field as I am in mine.
Why is the band called Stay Human?
Because plug-in-and-tune-out technology is advancing at such a rapid pace to the point where we don't even really have a hold on it. I think it's important for people to stay human and remember that genuine human connection is more fulfilling than anything that technology has to offer. We all have it within us, and music is something that can bring that out of us.
Performance: 8 p.m. Saturday at the Annenberg Center, 3680 Walnut St. Tickets: $50-$20. Information: 215-898-3900 or www.annenbergcenter.org.
215-854-5628@deluca_dan