The Big Money Tour – Jon Batiste Plays America

Jon Batiste is a five-time Grammy Award-winning and Academy Award-winning singer,
songwriter, and composer. Batiste will be live in Oklahoma City for the first time at The Zoo Amphitheatre this August!

Batiste released his eighth studio album, Beethoven Blues (Batiste Piano Series, Vol.
1), in November 2024 via Verve Records/Interscope. Marking the first installment in his
new solo piano series, the project showcases Batiste’s interpolations of some of
Beethoven’s most iconic works, reimagined through an expansive lens. These
reimagined classics embody the indomitable spirit of the blues, and—true to Batiste’s
“message of open-armed inclusivity” (New York Times)—embrace a broad genre
spectrum.

Beethoven Blues (Batiste Piano Series, Vol. 1) follows World Music Radio (released
August 2023 via Verve), which draws inspiration from Batiste’s mission to create
community and expand culture with the power of music. Featuring collaborators
including Jon Bellion, Lana Del Rey, Lil’ Wayne, and more, the album received positive
reviews from critics who praised the project for its universal message and genre-defying
sound. Hailed by NPR as “a sprawling exploration of what global music can sound like,”
the album received a total of five Grammy nominations, including Album of the Year.
Batiste kicked off his first-ever headlining tour, Uneasy Tour: Purifying the Airwaves for
the People, the following year.

Batiste’s innovative score is featured in Jason Reitman’s SATURDAY NIGHT, which
released in theaters in October 2024. Depicting the chaotic 90 minutes leading up to the
first broadcast of Saturday Night Live in 1975, the film is underscored by Batiste’s
musical masterpiece, which features a blend of jazz, classical, and contemporary
elements. Batiste composed and produced the music live on the soundstage in front of
the cast and crew, perfectly capturing the intensity and unpredictability of the show’s
debut episode.

Batiste was the subject of Matthew Heineman’s moving 2023 documentary AMERICAN
SYMPHONY, released on Netflix in partnership with Barack Obama and Michelle
Obama’s Higher Ground. Batiste and Grammy winner Dan Wilson penned the
emotional song “It Never Went Away” for the film, which earned an Oscar nomination for
Best Original Song and two Grammy nominations.

In 2021, Batiste released We Are, which was nominated for 11 Grammy Awards across
seven different categories, a first in Grammy history. He went on to win five Grammy
Awards that evening, including Album of the Year. In 2018, he received a Grammy
nomination for Best American Roots, and in 2020, he received two Grammy nods for
the albums: CHRONOLOGY OF A DREAM: LIVE AT THE VILLAGE VANGUARD and
MEDITATIONS (with Cory Wong). Batiste also composed and performed music for the
Disney/Pixar film SOUL, for which he won an Academy Award for Best Original Score
alongside fellow composers Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. SOUL also earned Batiste
a Golden Globe, a BAFTA, an NAACP Image Award, and a Critic’s Choice Award. From
2015 until 2022, Batiste served as the bandleader and musical director of The Late
Show with Stephen Colbert on CBS.