Fifty-two years ago, The Beatles stood on stage at the Ed Sullivan Theatre and changed popular music. It speaks to the lasting influence of the band's music that a jazz and R&B bandleader from Louisiana can sit on that stage five decades later and still surprise us with the Fab Four's compositions. Here's Jon Batiste—29 years old, a product of Juilliard, a scholar of jazz music—who, for as accomplished as he is, never gets to really flex his full talent as the leader of The Late Show's house band, Stay Human.
In honor of that Beatles performance, Batiste plays a rendition of "Blackbird" like you've never heard before. He begins with a stunning trickle of notes and key changes, until finally landing on the song's familiar base chord.
Batiste told us last month that, as bandleader, he hoped to "figure out how to fill the studio with music in a way that reminds me of a street parade in New Orleans."
This was his moment. It's a combination of his musical roots, his vast studies, and an all-time classic. Bravo.
