Grammy, Emmy, and Oscar winner Jon Batiste has a new solo piano album.
Titled “Black Mozart,” this is the second installment in Batiste’s solo piano series and the album showcase the pianist’s engagement with composers from multiple eras.
Batiste, who reimagines the classical tradition through a Black American musical lens also announced the upcoming release of “Batiste Piano SeriesVolumes 3 and 4,” focusing on Thelonious Monk: “Monk Meditations” and “Monk Movements,” both set for release on Verve Records on August 14.
With the three albums, his goal is to “curate a musical conversation” between Monk and Mozart.
“Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, a pioneer who created his own musical language yet honored his predecessors. Like Thelonious Monk, for me a latter-day example of all the same qualities, Mozart was a meticulous metaphysician who created a special blend of logical mastery that still somehow defies explanation,” says Batiste.
Born into a long line of Louisiana musicians, Batiste trained as a classical pianist and received both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in jazz piano from The Juilliard School.
“Even before I knew who he was, I started to have some of the same musical thoughts that he had. Monk music makes my brain and my soul feel aligned in a very special way. He is my favorite pianist of all time – not just jazz pianist, any style pianist. The way he hears the harmony and the sound he produces on piano is something that should be applied to all styles of playing.”
“Black Mozart” will be released on Juneteenth.
