Jon Batiste Wants to Collaborate With Radiohead
On his Grammy-nominated album WE ARE, Juilliard trained Jon Batiste collaborates with gospel singer Tori Kelly, Big Fredia, and Hot 8 Brass Band. Batiste has also recorded and played with legends Stevie Wonder, Prince, and Willie Nelson. Yet, there’s still one group he’d love to collaborate with, Radiohead.
John Batiste is a massive fan of Radiohead
In a recent interview with Jalen Rose for the NY Post, Batiste said it would be “out of this world” to collaborate with Radiohead on a movie score.
Batiste is a long-time fan of the British rock group. For a 2014 GQ article, he was asked to name ten perfect songs. One of those entries is “Kid A” by Radiohead. Although, he struggled to pick only one song.
“Man, wow, that album. At the time, it blew my mind because Radiohead really tapped into the zeitgeist.” He continued, “It was like they made music that everybody wanted to hear, but no one else had figured out what it sounded like.”
“It’s hard to pick a single track, because you can listen to it from beginning to end; everything connects.” Batiste explained, “I can’t skip around. We live in a very hit-driven era, so it’s one of the few albums of our time that’s a suite.”
Both Jon Batiste and Radiohead have experience scoring movies
Batiste and Radiohead could be a collaboration made in heaven. Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood composed the score for the film There Will Be Blood. His work was widely acclaimed, but it was ineligible for an Oscar because, as NME reported, it used previously recorded material that was not “composed specifically for the film.”
In 2021, Batiste took home an Oscar and Golden Globe alongside Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. The trio received the awards for Best Original Score for the film Soul. He said of the collaboration, “we just put our heart and soul into it; literally, no pun intended.”
Besides the awards, Batiste is thrilled the movie exposed jazz music to a new generation saying, “Man, this is exactly what I’ve been dreaming of. I wanted to share my love of music with so many people. And this is another vehicle to do it.”
Jon Batiste is the most nominated artist at this year’s Grammys
2022 could be a big year for the New Orleans-born musician. Although widely regarded in the music industry, some are only familiar with Batiste as the bandleader on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
With 11 Grammy nominations and a scheduled performance at this year’s ceremony, Jon Batiste is about to become a household name. His album WE ARE is nominated for some of the night’s most significant awards, including Album and Record of the Year.
The 64th Grammy Awards ceremony will be held at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, NV, on Apr. 3, 2022. Trever Noah is hosting with performances from BTS, Billie Eilish, Lil Nas X, Jack Harlow, and Olivia Rodrigo.
