Sunday Sitdown with Willie Geist - GRAMMY NOMINEE: Jon Batiste (December 2023)

Episode Date: February 3, 2024

Musician Jon Batiste sat down with Willie Geist to talk about his latest album, his six Grammy nominations, and his feature acting debut in "The Color Purple". (Original broadcast date December 3, 2023.) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey guys, Willie Geist here with another episode of the Sunday Sit Down podcast. My thanks as always for clicking and listening along. I am so genuinely excited to bring you my conversation this week with Grammy-winning musician and so much more than that, really. John Batiste. You may have come to know John as the band leader effectively for Stephen Colbert on the late show on CBS. He talks about how that gave him an entirely new platform. But man, that's just the beginning of his story. He comes from New Orleans, born really into jazz and blues royalty.

His family, there was a Batiste Brothers band in New Orleans. He started playing with them when his dad and his uncles at about the age of eight can play all the instruments. You name it. He can do it. Gets into Juilliard, the prestigious Juilliard School in New York at age 17. By 18, he's playing Carnegie Hall, forms a band called Stay Human. Stay Human gets famous because what they would do, they call them love riots. They would just walk up into a subway and start playing or walk into an intersection and start playing.

And they would have people come along, New Orleans style, bringing New Orleans flavor to New York City. Got this reputation. Colbert loved him, asked him to be the band leader. Things really blew up for him. And then two years ago at the 2022 Grammy Awards, his album, We Are, was nominated 11 times. He wins five Grammys, including album of the year and everything changes. By the way, for his latest album, World Music Radio, just nominated again casually five more times for a whole bunch of Grammy. So he is an unbelievable man, and at the heart of his story is his relationship,

a love story with his wife, Suleka. So at the moment when his life professionally is blowing up and he wins all these Grammy awards, his wife Suleka is told that her leukemia has come back. So he had this Netflix documentary. They were shooting themselves with cameras and everything called American Symphony. It was supposed to be about him creating this symphony in New York. And really, it became a story about the two of them while his professional career was going crazy, coming home and dealing with this gut-wrenching challenge of getting the person he loves the most in the world, his wife, through this time.

So a beautiful story, a wonderful guy, as you'll hear. He's a musician, but he's just full of life and laughter and love and vibrant colors. music. So sit back, relax. I hope you enjoy as much as I did this conversation right now on the Sunday Sit Down podcast with John Batiste. Let's do it. Man, I'm so happy to see you, John. Man, I feel like I've known you for a while, but we just met a few minutes ago. But that's the vibe.

That's the vibe. First of all, let's talk about where we are. This is one of your spots. Yes. And you're saying you can just come in here, pull out some vine. and put it on. Yeah, you put the vinyl on and you sit back like this is your house. You know, it feels good to be somewhere that has that home energy. Yes. And listening to vinyl to me is one of my favorite things in the world. What is it about vinyl that you love so much?

Huh. It's good. Good sounds, yeah. But also just the, it feels like somebody made this for you to sit and absorb. and you feel that most when an album is on vinyl, or if you hear a live record, like the James Brown record at the Apollo, you can hear the sweat on the record.

You hear him sweating in the concert? There's something that transmits to the recording. Yes. Yeah, it's that raw sound that comes through. Yeah. I've got to congratulate you on your latest spate of Grammy nominations. Another six.

It's incredible, isn't it? You know what? I'm just grateful to be able to make things that I really believe in. And, you know, I make things that are from the heart and from my life experiences. And it really comes from such a deep place. And the people who I work with, I really admire and they push me and inspire me. So then when our community, creatives, people in the music industry, people who vote, think it's some of the best stuff of the year.

It just is so encouraging because it comes from. a place where you put it out and you think, man, they don't like this. They don't like me. Because this is really coming from somewhere. So I'm just so grateful and humbled by it every time. It's never old for me. World Music Radio is a really just a spectacular collection of all these different vibes and different sounds. It's you. I mean, it's a statement like you say about you. How do you describe this album, maybe even as compared to other? albums you've put out. Is it different or is it that same energy? It's it's me in the center of everything that I do and when I'm evolving as an artist, I'm getting other things that influenced me, other sounds,

people may bring me a recording, a vinyl record or something and I'm listening to it and it'll be in my subconscious for months and months and the next thing you know, something about the snare drum on that record or a turn of phrase or a certain kind of prose and a lyric that I heard on a recording I'll connect that with something that I'm hearing in an elevator or a restaurant or somebody will be talking a certain way. It won't even be music. All these influences, it's just kind of like be on the TV or something in a magazine. It'll all come together and a vision will emerge. And that's when I go in the studio.

It's like a movie that I'm seeing. And now, oh, I see it in my mind's eye. How do I score this film? And this is the most literally like a film, this album, because there's a concept album where you're, led through the album by a DJ that I play. I literally voice the characters named Billy Bob Bob. Yes, he is. They want you to call in and all that stuff.

Yes. So this is very different from anything that I've made in that it's richly presenting concept movie album. It's like it's living in that space unabashedly. Whereas before those characters and those narratives and those themes, they'll be inside, jokes for me and inside themes for me. So when you say world music, what does that mean to you? Because I think it's sort of this nebulous term to a lot of people. It's different sounds from

different places. What does it mean to you? You know, it was at best an idea for me, something as a prompt to create. I didn't try to make a world music album, but I thought, huh, world music, this kind of nebulous idea, what if it was music for the whole world? Music that connected the themes that you find through all cultures, cultures, indigenous music that you find all around the world, there's something about it that's the fabric of everyday life and communities. It's the way that people come together for ritual. It's the way that people dance and sing and connect all of these threads in a sound that is my own.

How do we create this world music radio idea from the voice of John Batiste? And then that's when the narrative started to emerge. This is like nine months into the process of making the album. The idea of Billy Bob Bob and the World Music Radio Station, and you're listening to the album as if you listen to a radio format. All of that started to become clear. It started to speak to me. And when it lasted in my creative process for more than a week,

too. That's when I knew, oh yeah, this is something real. This is a real idea I got to pursue. And boy, did you. And I love one of the things only you can pull off is that at one moment, Kenny G's on the record. Three songs later, Weezy's on the record. I think only John Batisse could do that. So when you looked at the people you wanted to feature on this album, how did you begin to think through that and reach out to Kenny G. and Lil Wayne and all the other people on it? Wow, man, you know, that might be a first in history. Kenny G. and Lil Wayne on the record. I never thought about it like that.

But that's great. I just move with what the vision is telling me it wants to be. It's always telling you, if you're listening, if you're listening to what your creative process is telling you in response, it's a feedback loop. It's like, oh, this is the character in this moment. Who in the world could play this role? Who do I cast?

in this role. And, you know, on uneasy the track where Weezy's rapping, he's talking about what's happening when he sees around him. And he has this ability. He's like a street philosopher. He just can speak clearly to what he's seen. And there was only a few people I could think of in the world. And I know him. I knew Kenny G a little bit, but we had a relationship where I could call him. The same with everybody on the record was like, okay, either we wanted to collaborate in the past before we've crossed each other passing and you know we've said hey let's do something or it was one of those things where ah now let's connect the dots and it's just like going through it no one else would think through i think some of these collaborations but you can pull it off and it's a

credit to you because you've sort of created this template where the tent is big you just want interesting sounds and talented people all in one place and i imagine there has to be some gratification of the fact that it's being honored the way it's been by the Grammys, and you've had commercial success in a way that people may not have expected because it is such a diverse kind of music, and people can't pigeonhole it and say, it's this or it's that. Yes, R&B, a pop or whatever. Right, it's all those things, right?

You know, why limit yourself if you have a vision and you're creative and you have, I believe everybody is creative. I'm inspired by everyday people. and everyday people move through life and there's stuff that happens and you got to move you got to figure out what to do you got to find a way to to be true to who you are and your values and a lot of times when I'm making things I'm thinking about life and people and the motion of life and the heartbeat and in the world and nature and the sun and the stars and then you think about all of the the ways that it's all interconnected and it's unclassifiable That's the world we live in. That's the universe. I believe that all of this art that we're making is a reflection of life and a reflection of the universe,

reflection of people who we know, people who are out there, who we're connected to, even if we don't know. It's all connected. So think about how vast that is. And then you're in this creative position to make an album or to write a song or to compose a piece of music. why would you, in reflection of all that, limited to a narrow corridor? It's unbelievable.

I just, I had to get to that place where I could liberate myself and move through creating music in a way that I can draw everything. And it all comes together as one because it all is. That's the truth. The truth is it's all one. It's not separate. We've just lived with the, this idea of segmentation and thus the separation of peoples for so long that the symptoms of that

are real. But the truth behind that and underneath that and all around that is that's just a construct. Willie, let's get free. Yes. Yeah. And also, I mean, it's one thing to bring different music together, I think, and you can, I'll let you say. But beyond just the music, it feels like it's your feeling. philosophy, which is to say, let's open it up to everybody.

Let's take everybody's best. Let's take everybody's talent and showcase it. And in American Symphony, when you have the beautiful Native American drummers come in. They're really good at this. Let's bring that sound in. It's more, to me, watching you and studying you a little bit, it feels like it's about more than music, which is to say, break down these walls. Let's all share. Let's share this. Let's share the best version. of who we are and the best of our ideas and the best of our ingenuity to make a better world.

Ultimately, the arts can create a vision that we can look to of what the actual world can be, what our reality can be. That's a beautiful thing about American Symphony, about World Music Radio. These are just, for me, musical representations of what I see our world is, really at its best. And if I can find a way to inspire somebody through that, if I can find a way to give somebody some hope or some joy, and I can be excellent. Quality over everything. Always quality. The highest level. Craft, whether it's songwriting, whether it's composing, whether it's performing, highest possible level that you can reach as an artist.

And if you have those two things working together, it truly brings light to the world. It truly lifts people. It truly lifts the atmosphere. Hey guys, thanks for listening to the Sunday Sit Down podcast. Stick around to hear more from John Batiste right after the break. Welcome back now more of my conversation with John Batiste. You were nominated 11 times two years ago. Yes.

You were just nominated last week six times. Yes. You were in a very different place in your life. Yes. During those two. milestones for you. How does it feel this time as compared to two years ago? Well, this time I'm honored to see this as an opportunity,

both to share the music with a wider group of people around the world, and as we say, help to bring them light and bring them healing. But also, it's a duo for my family. My wife couldn't be with us at the, last Grammy ceremony because she was in the hospital. She was coming out of the hospital as the moment of us winning album of the year occurred. She's at home. So now, God willing, she'll be with us at the ceremony. We get to have a do-over. And that is at the heart of American Symphony, the Netflix film, which is such a beautiful, beautiful film. And I know it's not the film you set out to make. at the beginning. It was we're going to be about your career and and your rise. Yes. And then this news comes to you and it changes altogether. But you decided to keep the cameras and be vulnerable and be open and tell this story. Yes. Was that a difficult decision to keep the

cameras around? Oh my goodness. It was a decision we would continually reassess every month of film, seven months of filming 14 hours a day on average. You imagine 14 hours a day he has somewhere to 1,500 hours of footage to make the film that is now American Symphony. You know, we started with this idea that I wanted to capture a process film. The symphony is really pushing so many boundaries

of classical music of what is considered a symphonic work, and it really is, you know, for me, a culmination of years and years of studying, working on the craft. I wanted the document, make a boring process film that artists might watch and a few other people. About a month into us deciding the film, you know, we get the news within the same week of 11 Grammy nominations. My wife's leukemia comes back. Same week. So we decide to keep filming because it's bigger than us at a certain point when the cameras are rolling, and we realize that.

We realize for her it's a way to show the narrative of what a sick individual goes through, unvarnished. No fluff, no hero's journey, no retrospective after the fact, look, I'm healed. This is in the midst of not knowing if we're going to come out on the other side, if she's going to be the same on the other side, if she does. And ultimately, for me, it was a way to show as a caretaker and also as an artist and as a creator. And we're both creating throughout this film. How art and creativity for anybody can become a survival mechanism, creativity as an act of survival and transcendence. And it felt like we were called in that moment to represent that and to not. not back away from, you know, what most public figures,

people in a position of being on stage, you want to kind of keep certain parts private. Well, it felt like it was even bigger than that idea of privacy and curation. Let's just let the people see. I mean, it's, I don't know, beautiful is the right word. It's beautiful watching your relationship. So, like, that was beautiful. I mean, it's a love story.

It really is. And it's difficult to watch at times and it's painful at times. And I can't imagine what it was like for you to have this explosion going off in your career in a positive direction. I just got nominated for 11 Grammys. My life is about to change. But also this other explosion in your personal life that brought you back and said, this is actually what matters here. How did you navigate that time? How did you manage those two things?

God, my faith, believing that. the intention of what is happening is divine, no matter what it is, no matter what we're seeing. There's a great plan. There's a plan. And, you know, the truth of our creative life that is captured in the film is a way that we both found connection to each other. Also ways to show up for ourselves, to take care of ourselves through the creative process as a healing. and finding a way, you know, for us, in one moment I was writing her lullabies. This is a part of what was happening. That's not in the film, but full circle moment.

The lullabies that I wrote for her when she was in the hospital, she was painting while I was composing in the hospital. This is happening. And now the song, Butterfly, which is nominated for a song of the year, that's from those lullabies. So just showing people the through line of creativity. as a way to manifest what you want, the intention you want out of life. And it doesn't always work.

It's not a magic trick, but it's a way to connect and to be present and to be in the moment and to bring joy and light and truth into dark and tragic moments. We should say here for people wondering, Sulake is doing well right now. Yes. Absolutely. Thank God. God, man, I'm, you know, it's a big, it's a big thing. Yes.

It's a big thing to have come through what she's come through and for us to be where we are as a family. Thank you for asking. And she is strong, man. Just from watching the dock, I can see that. Yes, I can see that. She's strong. It's beyond, beyond. And you two met at band camp.

Do I have that story, right? You met. were friendly for a while but maybe lost touch a little bit yeah yeah we lost touch until um till college we met at bank

teenagers then yeah reconnected in in uh new york college juliaud and then reconnected again after that right so we were in and out of each other's lives and is the story right john that when she was sick the first time

you showed up with your band performed a little love riot right there in the hospital to cheer her up. Is that true? Yes, that's true. That's what happened. What was that day like? You just showed up? Yeah, just showing up.

You know, this is a time where we would play. My band, stay human, thinking back to those days, Joe, Eddie, Bonda, we would go and play in the subway in New York City. We would play in the streets in New York City. We would just be going out there for one to get better as musicians, playing together as a band. And also we go out there to connect with folks and not really busk for money, but just go out and play a full 30-minute mini concert on the moving train or on the subway platform. So we were in a habit of bringing the music wherever we would go, really just to connect with people. It was a different time in the world to different feeling in the world.

And we just wanted to bring that energy. And at this point, I'd heard that Sulayko was in a lot. hospital and I saw the impact of the music whenever we would bring it into certain spaces and something transformed and I felt that what better place than to go into the cancer ward and to bring the music and to bring that energy and that uplift and especially for someone who I cared about and as a friend at this time cared about so deeply and as we went in the hospital it just was a no-brae It's like, let's do it. Let's do it. So yeah, that was, we've been through many phases,

man. You got me thinking about the band camp to the phases of life. That's the journey, right? We've been through a lot of phases. And she's very talented herself, truly. She can play, bass, right? She can write, she can paint. She is very talented herself. Oh, yeah, she's a superstar. She started a community online. During the pandemic, we were in lockdown, it's called the isolation journals, started this journaling community, just ideas that like that pop into her mind. We're both community builders. We both like to commune people bringing people together.

And that's something that I think also is a big part of how we made it through that time, finding your people connecting with your community, your chosen family and your family, and really finding that nucleus of love and healing and protection. You know, you're going to the Grammys one night, you're in the hospital next night, you're on the road, all the things you're doing through life. You have to have that support. And that was really important. big thing that we created together in our life.

I assume she has seen American Symphony. She's seen the film. Yes. How does she feel watching it back? She doesn't remember most of what was going on. She's very proud of the film. And also in that time, you have to think, you know, there's so many hours of footage that we captured, I don't remember most of what was happening in that time either, other than

survival forward motion upward trajectory survival forward motion upward trajectory so it's hard for me to even watch the film you know for her she's more she she would watch more of the edits even as along the way of the film so she was already right locked in to the film whereas for me it was not easy and still isn't easy to watch I'm sure that was the most painful several months of your life, I guess, right? It was, it was in the wildest way, I will say it was transformative, puts things into perspective. The priorities of life and creativity and family, what really means to be free, my faith, God being with us, knowing that, relying on that, understanding that and really just knowing that this is a vapor this life is so quick how do we connect

how do we really live in moments how do we really live in time and really be be present you know what i mean yeah there's a theme in your life is connecting find the connection wherever you are yeah whether it's sitting in this room right now or putting a symphony together at carnegie hall Bringing people together. That's a pretty good... It's a pretty good way to be, man. Will it? Will it?

We in there. Let's bring it together. Yeah, yeah. No, that's it, man. Let's go. One of the other things the film really captures is how your life changed professionally after you won the Grammys.

So you're nominated 11 times. That's already a big deal. And then you win five of them, right? Yes. Including album of the year. And in the film, the next day, at the airport, amazing scene. I don't want to give it away.

At the shoe shine. I saw that scene. I did see that scene. That's good. But then all of a sudden, you are on display at the airport. Yeah. Somebody holds up the newspaper. There's you. And pictures. And you almost see a little bit on your face like, oh, it's different now. Yeah. Like literally overnight. It's different now. How have you managed that part of the transformation of your life coming from the success of your career?

I don't know the answer to that. It's hard to manage. I don't have an answer to that because it's just one day at a time. And I'm grateful for everyone. I'm grateful for everybody who is moved by the work that comes from my heart, that comes from the divine through me as a vessel into the world. I'm grateful for everyone who appreciates the work that I put into craft, music, wanting to connect people, share that.

I'm grateful for that. And I also know that I am a limited resource. So it's who like our life changing and, you know, the momentum of that is very, it's harrowing. It takes a lot to find the equilibrium. So just one day at a time and making sure to constantly make that space. And I really believe that it's true for all of us to make that space to be still. Be still and no, just sit. Be still.

Stillness. Every single time that you can be in stillness, there's always some revelation of what you should be doing, where you should be. Even if you're doing the right thing in the right place at the right time, it'll let you know that too. Yeah. It's hard, though, isn't it?

Yeah. To be still, when you reach the point you reach where everybody's pulling you in a different direction. Can you do this? You want to do this? Can you do this? What about tonight? And you have to remind yourself to be still, right? Sometimes.

Oh, man. Staying home tonight. Right, right. Oh, man, it's big time. Big time. You've got to sit and know that's always to speak the, truth with love is a difficult thing and to be still is a difficult thing there's a song on the album called drink water John Bellin and I we collaborate in the album he's singing this

part take a deeper drink wall and we got the water here but just like things like that mantra's ideas of of the basics and fundamentals of life become further and further removed from the urgency of other things pulling at you So that's the key. How do you find that space to then be? That's it. Be still. Talking about the love riots, I was watching videos of those when you guys used to do those.

And all I saw was New Orleans. I mean, and I was like New York needs some New Orleans. I saw the parade, I saw the horn, I saw the melodica, all of that. And what a great thing to bring New Orleans to New York, which gets me to your roots. I mean, you were born into music, it seemed. Your father, your uncles, the family band, all of it. Were you always going to be a musician from day one, practically? Man, you know, what's funny about it is I was a late bloomer with music with the

family band that was what I was around. I was a part of the family and my father being the first musical mentor that I had. You know, around 8 or 9 I was singing and then from there, you know, they put

the youngest, I was the youngest at the time of all the cousins so they always put the youngest, the littlest kid in the front and singing. It was terrified so I had to find the instrument. And around you know, 9 or 10, I'm finding percussion and hide behind the counter the drum. You know, stuff like that. It's just Something that I can do.

Then at a certain point around 11 or 12 years old, some folks at this point in my family have been playing since they were two or three. So they got 10 years. Folks in my peers, trombone shorty, one of the greats. He's like my brother. We grew up playing. We started a band at the age of 14. So there's like two years after I really started playing the piano,

which was a vision my mother had. She isn't a musician, but she has visions about music. She has great ear. She was saying, you know, you should play the piano. Why don't you try the piano? We started doing piano lessons, creating these different kinds of songs with friends and building until it got to the point where in high school I had really developed and got to a point where I was at some level professional enough to, you know, 15 years old,

from 12 to not 15 doing my own albums, leading my own band, and really being a musician in New Orleans, something happened in that period of time. And then I graduated from high school at 17 and moved to New York. And the rest is history, as they say. Stick around for more of my conversation with John Batiste right after a quick break. Welcome back now to the rest of my conversation with John. John Batiste. We talk about all the great influences of New Orleans and mentioned trombone Shorty. Yes.

But it turns out one of the keys to your success was the video game Sonic the Hedgehog. We were transcribing the music. Is that true? It's true. And what did you get out of that? Sonic the Hedgehog, Final Fantasy 7. Yeah. You still play that.

Oh, yeah. Still. I love this. This is like a way for me to connect, decompress, connect to my childhood. But, you know, those soundtracks were you listen to those games, especially those games where you're going into a world and there's themes for characters and there's themes for levels and Sonic the Hedgehog, Green Hills on the sounds. I was listening to that. Before I was a musician by profession, I would be playing video games. I hear these soundtracks and have a natural if for music.

I hear learn things just by playing the game over and over. Soundtrack would kind of get in the subconscious mind. The next thing, you know, he started trying to pluck it out on the piano. We started playing it. Jamal and Travis and I was the band. We put together the junior family band, play the video game themes. And, you know, eventually that was my entry point into composition. Hearing the sounds, you know, Yokosimimura, Capcom stuff she did, Nobuwimatsu,

different people who were composing for these video games. So believe it or not, my name. My early setup was New Orleans, avant-garde jazz musicians, kid, Jordan Ellis Marcellus, Alvin Batisse, it's Clyde Kerr, video game themes, and classical piano, Miss Shirley. That was my. Now, you've given every teenage boy something to tell their parents when he's playing video games. John Batiste is how he learned. You've got five Grammys and probably a bunch more to come. That's all.

You gave it to them. Play the game. Find your song. Willie. So that jump to New York that you just mentioned was to Juilliard. Yes. Which is the most prestigious music school or art school, arguably, in the country of the world. And tell me if I'm wrong about this, but it didn't quite fit where you came from musically.

It was very traditional. I'll put it that way. You know, I was. I was also a very unusual student in that, you know, I think I always saw Juilliard in school as an opportunity to connect with the world around me and to connect with all of the possibility that was out there. And I found that I was there, and it wasn't really built for that at the time. It was built for you to be inside the four walls of the school, not in the four walls of the school.

Also in Argentina on the weekend. And also down in the village up in Harlem and just taking all that you can in and absorbing all of that. which, you know, now I really believe that education and really conservatory, the approach of the conservatory is right for a reinvention. It needs to shift. It needs to be open to a different sort of approach to pedagogy and understanding what the actual objective is of what we're doing. What are we actually trying to do? how are we trying to what kind of students are we trying to turn out into the world what kind of artists what kind of impact what's the what's the ultimate in game of of conservatory which i think is super important and it's super important because of the one thing we keep you know going

back to is quality and excellence to get into these these children these babies 16 17, 18 years old from around the world, 1% acceptance rate into these places. They're able to do things on their instruments and their voice with their craft. That is, it should be celebrated just the fact that some, it's so counterculture, so punk, that a kid would want to sit and learn, you know, a Shastakovish piece or, you know, someone could just learn how to dance and really connect with the tradition of that. or someone, you know, knows all the works of Shakespeare by heart that I'm just thinking about the range of what you see.

So that's very, very, very important. And that is so central to who we are in our culture. You talk about jazz and you talk about our culture in America and what it really means and who we are and how we can see each other more. We have to first look at what our achievements have been. look at what we've actually done already and look at what that that indicates about who we are and what our future could be. This is why these institutions are important.

This is why it's important for us to figure out a way to now have them meet the modern world. Right. How do we do that? So, you know, I learned from the experience as a student all of these insights. And now I'm in a great position in the world to help to give back and to help to restructure the arts and culture for generations to come. And you figured it out. You graduated, got your master's there. You're still very involved and you're helping that transition, right, to, especially in a place in, like, New York.

Yeah. It seems to me the whole point would be to get outside the four walls. You got everything you can ever want within a couple of miles, right? So good for you for helping with that. And you also met your bandmates there, right, at Juilliard. So that was another big thing you took away from there. What were the early days of stay human like when you guys were doing the love riots, when you were out there hustling, trying to get gigs? Will you look back on that time fondly?

I love it. It's the best. We'll be in New York. We've made an album back then. It's called My N-Wives album made on the subway, made a street corner. but that captures so much of what that time was like we would play Joe Seller on the tambourine. Joe Seller, the jazz cowboy, he's now, you know, the drummer on the Late Show.

We were on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert for seven years. You see him there. It's just so deep what he's able to do on his instrument. He can play so many different traditions of music, and he can play every style of the American folkloric drums to jazz drums to modern contemporary styles that he's created. And he learned how to play the tambourine in that New Orleans style a la, you know, Hurling Riley, Shannon Powell. You imagine him going into the subway with the sanctified tambourine and he starts smacking the drums. and people just turn around.

It's like, whoa. Next thing, you know, Eddie comes out with the saxophone. We just created these experiences. Like, you would have somebody sitting there and they would think they were at a show in Vegas. It was, you know, a live production. And we started to build a community around New York from doing these sort of impromptu,

love riot concerts slash flash mob you know it would be amazing how people would see us there and they'd be like oh i'm gonna come and see your concert you plan and in low east side they'll come out and then we started to do concerts after the concerts we started to do secret shows and do things where we would take over a loft or we would take over a warehouse and we'd invite people in and then that would lead to more people coming into this community. And then it would become this sort of happening in New York. It was not like we were known, but we were your favorite band's favorite band.

People would come out. It would be incredible, the range of people that would come out to these sort of underground performances. So those love riots and those shows, you guys built this reputation. and people got to know you and there was talk about you and buzz about you eventually as you mentioned led you to stephen colbert show and you talk in the doc about sort of life before that and life after that

how that changed things for you what was that like to be on that show yes and how did it change things for you well i'm so grateful to stephen and the the team over there is like family it's a big team and we're there You know, at this time, when I started, we're doing five nights a week, 202 shows a year. We really grew together. We found a way to do that show. And we really found the right balance of, you know, what was going on in the times and politics and also art, culture.

And that's what I loved about it. It became this sort of playground for me to find, oh, wow, all these things that I was connecting to when I was at Juilliard and I was going out into New York City. Now it's this portal to the rest of the world. Everybody, you can imagine, is coming through those doors.

I'm on stage with Stephen, and we're creating this kind of rapport that develops and evolves, and the band is there, and I get to compose, I get to be my Duke Ellington fantasy, you know, where he would compose, you know,

hundreds of pieces for the Cotton Club, and it would be broadcast over the radio from Harlem to the rest of, of the world. I felt like that was my cotton club. So I would write hundreds of songs every year that would become cues and the audience would hear during the commercial breaks. And just the idea of what that show was for me in the time that I was on the show, it was almost like another another evolution of John Battis. And that moment that I decided that it was time to leave, you know, it was, it just felt inevitable.

It wasn't something that I wanted to do. It was just something that felt like it had reached a point where those lessons had been garnered. And it was a shift of season. It was a new season. So, you know, I think that to describe what that was like there's so many. moments, but I remember the first show. This is the first actual broadcast show.

So we did test shows, and then we were broadcast. Mavis Staples, buddy guy, Ben Folds, Brittany Howard, Alabama Shakes, my friend. And stay human. We all are on stage together, singing Sly Stones. I am everyday people. You know, like the whole baby's, oh, yeah.

But that moment was so, it was a beacon. It was like, wow, we can put this energy out into the world. We can shine these kind of, we can shine a light on culture in a certain way. We can represent a lot of things that I value in, and music that I, what, wasn't hearing on television, you know, really trying to take from the great band leaders who were in that position and reinvent the role based on my vision and who I am and who stay human as a band is. But that just was like, okay, we're off to the races. That show almost didn't make it to the air, by the way. We were like five minutes. We learned how to do the show at the time. And it wasn't delivered to the network. Is that right? Yeah, it was almost like, that was a great lot of pressure.

I remember that. Welcome to that kind of daily TV, huh? Getting it out. And it also introduced you to so many people, too. And they said, oh, who's this guy? Oh, I love him. Like my mom, I told you. She fell in love with you.

Mom. Wait, Jody. Jody. Yeah. Hello, Jody. Jody. Woo! Yes, indeed.

Oh, you just made her year. Joe is the best out there in Connecticut. Last thing, I know we got to go. You're broadening your horizons out beyond music. You are in the new color purple movie. Yes, indeed. Oh, my goodness. Color purple.

Wow. Playing Grady. Yes, Grady. Yep. What was that experience like for you? It was having, man. I didn't know that it was going to be so fun to do it. And I want to do more.

I loved it. I was so happy to be on the set. Fantasia, Taraji, great, obviously. But just being around him, it feels amazing to be in the cast on the set. It was like family. Corey, we went to Julia all together and Danielle as well.

And Coleman, the first film that I ever worked on was a Spike Lee film. Coleman. It just felt like a reunion in so many ways for me. So I felt very comfortable. I felt like it was just the leadership of Blitz and his vision for the film. It was so unique and so expressive, musically, obviously, but just expressive in terms of his visual language and the things that he was capturing. The set was beautiful.

I really am excited for people to see it. It looks great. I got a little sneak peek of it. People are going to love it. Oh, man. Yeah. I love doing it. It was so fun.

to play Quincy's song. Oh, man. In the movie, yeah, it was great to continue the legacy of that story. That's amazing. John, it's such a pleasure to talk to you. I can sit here all day. What a pleasure. Thank you, man.

Happy for all your success. Thank you so much. God bless you, brother. Yes. Thanks. My big thanks again to John for a great conversation. His documentary American Symphony is streaming now on Netflix, and you can catch him in the color purple in theaters

beginning on Christmas Day. by thanks to all of you for listening again this week. If you want to hear all these conversations with our guests every week, be sure to click follow so you never miss an episode. And don't forget to tune in to Sunday today every weekend on NBC. I'm Willie Geist. We'll see you right back here next week on the Sunday Sit Down podcast.