About

The second installment of the Batiste Piano Series sees multi-Grammy® and Oscar® winner Jon Batiste reinterpret Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s most beloved melodies as Black American classical music, infused with influences from jazz, rags, stride, blues and stomps. The result is a vibrant conversation without words - not about genre, but pure expression. — (via Label)

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Western classical and Southern Black musical traditions find common ground on Jon Batiste's 2026 album Black Mozart. The second volume in his ongoing solo piano series, the album finds Batiste reimagining the work of composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, imbuing the classical themes with jazz, R&B, gospel, and stride traditions informed by his own New Orleans upbringing.

Notably, the album was released in conjunction with two other volumes, Monk Movements and Monk Meditations, both of which feature impressionistic covers and improvised explorations of the legendary jazz pianist's work. In context, all three albums seek to draw connections between Mozart and Thelonious Monk, two composers whom Batiste views as kindred musical spirits, each capable of writing simple melodic ideas and transforming them into works of remarkable harmonic and rhythmic complexity. Whether it's the dancerly lilt of "Facile-Batiste" (culled from "Sonata 16"), the twirling Janissary intensity of "Alla Turc" (or "Turkish Rondo" from the "Sonata 11"), or minor-key melodrama of "Molto" (or "Molo Allegro" from "Symphony No. 40"), Mozart's melodic themes are as hummably memorable as ever, allowing Batiste to rework them at will, weaving in subtle gospel harmonies and bold, jazzy asides.

As with all of his piano series albums, these are relaxed, in-the-moment performances in which Batiste essentially plays from memory; something the Juilliard-trained improviser does with thoughtful abandon. — (via AllMusic)

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Batiste is by no means the first jazz pianist or jazz artist to draw the linkage between classical composers and Thelonious Monk. Yet, given Batiste’s New Orleans upbringing, he brings a more comprehensive palette to the music. These are not cover versions exclusively. Batiste penned three originals on Black Mozart and several on the two Monk albums.

We’ll take the classical composers first. Just as he did with Beethoven Blues, he imbues Mozart’s music with influences from jazz, ragtime, stride, blues, gospel, and stomp. It’s about commonality, improvisation, expression, and a higher sense of spirituality. He finds Mozart’s music powerful, accessible, and foundational, with singable melodies that bear innocence. While he, like many, first found the music “stuffy,’ his mentor, New Orleans great Alvin Batiste, showed him a twelve-bar blues tune based on Mozart’s vernacular, transforming it to Black American classical music. This happened when Jon Batiste was a kid, but the lasting impression has him reimagining this twenty years later.

The result is that you’ll hear multiple eras and genres of music often within the same piece, as Batiste strives to find commonality.  Even the titles offer clues. “Alla Turc Movement” sits beside “Alla Blues” and “Country Zart.” The music shifts from stately and calm in “Processional”  to rather rambunctious, relatively speaking, in “Country Zart,” for example. It’s lively and sprightly in the arpeggio-filled “Molto” while more jagged, and even more animated in “Caya Hueso,” as he is unfolding a story. As the title suggests, “Gospel Adante” is a slow-paced hymn. That’s the beauty of this – as soon as the music lures the listener into a reflective state, it rouses to a lively level quickly and often unexpectedly. — (via Glide Magazine)

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Label: Decca Records US
Format: Vinyl, LP, Stereo, Cream White
Released: 2026
Genre: Jazz, Classical

File under: Modern Classical
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