Review: JON BATISTE at Southern Theatre

Usually when a performer can go from song style to song style, you call him or her a chameleon, an animal which survives by blending into its surroundings. To call Jon Batiste a chameleon, however, would be a disservice to the five-time Grammy winner.

After watching Batiste perform at the Southern Theatre in downtown Columbus, you realize the man is a transformer.

As a writer, he can work with Nine Inch Nails front man Trent Reznor (collaborating on the Oscar-winning soundtrack for Pixar’s SOUL) in one breath and then work with Beyonce (co-writing “Ameriican Requiem” on her “Cowboy Carter” album) in another.

As a performer, he is as comfortable on the piano, the melodica, and the guitar as he is as a singer. He then takes a song, reimagines it, and turns it into something that is unique, meaningful, and powerful. His two sold-out performances at the Southern Theatre May 2 and 3 as a collaboration with Pro Musica became a firework display of Batiste’s versatility.

The first night Batiste went from performing solo, to playing with a jazz trio to playing with a 41-piece orchestra in a two-hour span. The following night The former musical director of LATE NIGHT WITH Stephen Colbert unveiled a previously unheard piano concerto commissioned by ProMusica. Either night was a transformational performance.

Wearing a purple suit coat and matching pants, Batiste began the May 2 concert with a rousing, eight minute version of “Oh When the Saints.” The song started as a piano concerto with Batiste banging it out on a Steinway piano. Two minutes into the number, he changed the style into an earthquake pop song, somewhat like Carole King’s “I Feel The Earth Move Under My Feet.” From there, he shapeshifted the tune into an audience participation clap-a-long, and then returned it to a New Orleans jazz march.

“That is one of my favorite songs. It’s a great song in all manner of times,” the New Orleans native said of “Oh When The Saints. “It was one of the first songs I learned how to play and I have played it in so many different times in my life. Each time I play it feels like the first time.”

Batiste then jumped genres again, saying that since he was wearing an all-purple ensemble, it would only be appropriate to pay “a tribute to the Purple One” before playing one of Prince’s deeper cuts, “How Come U Don’t Call Me Anymore?” Batiste used his falsetto notes to cover the non-album B side to Prince’s “1999.”  

Fifteen minutes into the concert, Batiste cracked into his own catalog with a beautiful reading of “Butterfly,” which he dedicated to his wife, Suleika Jaouad. As he closed out the solo portion of the concert, he asked the audience to put on the lights of their cell phone and “sing this healing melody.” As the Southern Theatre was lit up with a barrage of light from the flashlight app, a wordless ballad of rhythm then filled the rafters of the theatre.

“That light is your soul out there,” he said. “Will you all sing this one with me? I heard your voices. You’re like a choir of angels. No matter how dark it gets, we can win, we can win, we can win.”

After 20 minutes, Batiste’s solo act grew to three times its size with the addition of Phil Kuehn on the double bass and Max Townsley on guitar and keyboards. The trio opened with a reggae-like version of “Rain Dance,” and the gospel-tinged tune “Worship” from the World Music Radio album.

 “These songs are arranged, orchestrated and well produced in this amazing way with a myriad of influences from around the world,” Batiste said. “What we're going to do right now is play some of these songs … in a very stripped down, acoustic manner so you can really appreciate the lyrics.”

The singer then went into “Cry,” winner of the 2022 Grammys for Best American Roots Performance and Best American Roots Song. Batiste opened the song by channeling Muddy Waters’ bluesy greeting “Everything going to be all right this morning” and then into a foot-stomping marriage of the blues and folk. He then followed with a simple delivery of “Drink Water” and “Be Who You Are” to close out the first part of his show.

After a 15-minute intermission, the ProMusica Orchestra, directed by David Danzmayr, revved up the crowd with a five-minute montage of WEST SIDE STORY. With the 41- piece orchestra behind him, Batiste transformed into an old style crooner, channeling Frank Sinatra, or Nat King Cole. Batiste, accompanying the orchestra on the melodica, put a unique spin on standards “Fly Me To The Moon,” “Sunny Side Of The Street” and “I’ll Be Seeing You.”

“That composition is amazing,” he said of “I’ll Be Seeing You.” “There’s so much symmetry to it. To write that lyric at that level is very deep … I’m sorry … let’s go to the next song.”

Batiste then returned to his own catalog, hitting “Master Power,” “You Don’t Know Me,” and “Nocturne.”

After opening “Master Power” with something akin to the theme song of “Rawhide,” Batiste brought the song to a screeching halt to explain, “this is like a zydeco, country, folk blues song. People hear that and they don’t not clap along.”

Batiste then returned to the classics with a hauntingly solemn orchestral arrangement of Louie Armstrong’s “Wonderful World.”

Batiste closed out the evening, treating the crowd to   a R&B, soulful version of his song “Freedom.” If you didn’t know better, you’d think you were listening to Smokey Robinson or Marvin Gaye at their prime.

In an evening of transmutations of genres and styles, Batiste’s biggest trick of the night wasn’t limited to his singing or performing. He left the audience with the feeling of intimacy that made the Southern Theatre feel like it was Batiste’s 593-seat living room. The audience left the evening transfixed, transported, and ultimately transformed by his performance.

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