Sometimes even the most jaded music journalists can get carried away using hype-heavy superlatives when writing stories about artists whose work they genuinely admire. But in the case of Jon Batiste, the effusive critical plaudits seem, if anything, like understatements when you consider the Metairie, Louisiana, native’s accomplishments.
Batiste—a multi-instrumentalist who from 2015 to 2022 was the genial, melodica-toting leader of “Stay Human,” the house band on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert—is today described as a once-in-a-generation solo talent.
See for yourself when Jon Batiste Plays America: The Big Money Tour rolls into Walt Disney Theater at Dr. Phillips Center on Friday, October 10. Showtime will be 8 p.m. The Batiste concert will be the highlight of the arts center’s 10th Anniversary Gala. Yes, it has really been 10 years since the still-growing downtown complex formally opened its doors.
You can buy concert tickets alone, or you can go all out and buy a gala package that includes the concert, a cocktail reception, a multicourse meal in Steinmetz Hall and a post-show afterparty. The 10-person package will include a meet-and-greet with Batiste—who has won seven Grammys out of an astonishing 22 nominations.
“Money is valuable because we collectively have decided it to be so,” says Batiste, explaining the name of his current tour. “But the things that are eternally valuable and enduring last forever, even when the currency changes. That’s where the big money is.”
On the concert’s setlist will be “Big Money,” a new song and a preview of an upcoming Batiste project, as well as selections from his impossible-to-categorize catalog and his most recent studio album—his eighth—Beethoven Blues (Batiste Piano Series, Vol. 1).
The Verve Records/Interscope release, projected to be the first of a series, showcases Batiste’s expansive (and, as the title states, bluesy) interpretations of iconic works by Beethoven. Says OffBeat magazine: “It doesn’t take long for Jon Batiste to yank Ludwig Von from the Romantic-era parlors of Vienna to the red-light dens of Storyville.”
Dr. Phillips Center is located at 445 South Magnolia Avenue, Orlando. If you’re interested in learning more about the once-in-a-lifetime gala experience, call 407.992.1743 or email rsvp@drphillipscenter.org. For concert tickets alone, call or visit the website.
