It’s a busier week for jazz releases with a good many reissues in addition to new releases. As ever on Marlbank, the site concentrates on new releases as a priority. Sitting central to the week in terms of high profile celebrity jazz musicians and overall is Jon Batiste’s three-part expansion on Verve of his solo piano series, taking in Black Mozart (Vol. 2), Monk Meditations (Vol. 3), and Monk Movements (Vol. 4). To be frank, I didn’t like the first volume of the now 39-year-old’s series themed around Beethoven but am more positive about the Mozart album in this batch, but even better I do like a good deal the neominimalist approach to the Monk albums.
There are lots of Monk-themed albums and albums containing Monk compositions out there. But somehow Batiste finds a new path.
Raised within a prominent New Orleans family jazz dynasty, he started out on percussion before switching focus to classical piano, ultimately completing both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Juilliard in New York. He went on to gain far wider visibility during his long stint as bandleader and musical director on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, routinely shifting between jazz, blues, R&B and classical idioms on air.
Soul of things
That broad appeal translated into major industry accolades, particularly through his landmark score for Pixar’s animated feature Soul, co-written on the jazz side with Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross.
It’s my favourite work still of the pianist’s and was one of the few upbeat moments of the dread Lockdown year of 2020 – I remember streaming the film on Christmas Day and enjoying it particularly after the first half hour and liked most of all the barbershop and tailor shop scenes where the characters take over that bit more and you get a sense of the film’s great humanity. Batiste provided the authentic jazz arrangements that formed the musical backbone for the film’s protagonist, Joe Gardner – with animators even filming Batiste at the keys to capture his exact fingerings and physical technique for the screen. The project earned him an Academy Award, a BAFTA, and a Golden Globe for Best Original Score. The success was topped off by an Album of the Year Grammy for his studio release We Are which I didn’t like as much preferring Big Money a little more.
Alongside his recordings and film work, Batiste has remained committed to grassroots music mentorship, notably appearing as a guest mentor on Channel 4’s UK series The Piano to support amateur pianists playing on public instruments across the country.
There’s too much to take in at one sitting with this current bumper crop but there’s plenty to admire and enjoy even if just dipping in and out. Certainly prioritise the Monk albums both of which have interestingly derived sonics wrapping the sound in a new contemporary light that doesn’t feel contrived.
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