Jon Batiste announces Big Money Tour with promise of fresh sounds, improvisation and connection
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Jon Batiste is hitting the road again. The Grammy and Oscar winner is launching his second headlining tour, promising fresh sounds for his forthcoming album and material from his latest project, 'Beethoven Blues (Batiste Piano Series, Vol. 1).'
Batiste announced Thursday that his Big Money Tour: Jon Batiste Plays America will begin Aug. 27 in Kansas City. He'll groove through more than 30 venues across the U.S. in cities like Detroit, Austin, Texas, Nashville, a co-bill with Diana Ross in St. Louis and Philadelphia, before closing in Washington, D.C. on Oct. 31.
For the first time, Batiste will grace the stages of the Encore Theater in Las Vegas and the iconic Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado. He hopes the tour will offer attendees a deeper connection to him as an artist for the tour, a nod to his ninth studio album.
'Every show is both an origin story and a manifesto,' said Batiste, a seven-time Grammy winner who won an Oscar for his work on 'Soul' in 2020. The tour comes on the heels of performing the national anthem at this year's Super Bowl and 'Beethoven Blues,' which reimagined the famed German pianist's work and debuted No. 1 on Billboard's classical albums chart.
Batiste, a Louisiana native, is known for his signature rich blend of R&B, hip-hop, swing, jazz and pop. He's also the former bandleader for the 'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.'
The multitalented musician will wrap up his intimate Maestro Tour shows on Monday in Los Angeles.
He expects to be joined on the road by his wife, Suleika Jaouad, who is currently facing cancer for the third time and recently released a new book, 'The Book of Alchemy.'
Batiste believes his unreleased music can still forge a connection, even with those hearing it for the first time.
'I try to tell the most up-to-date origin story through the set,' he said. 'If you come to the show and you don't know any of the music, or you don't know anybody on stage and it's your first time seeing me perform or seen me on television, you'll leave and feel like you know the songs. You'll connect with the artist, the human being and the movement. It's almost like you're going to see a play.'
Batiste said the tour will mark the beginning of his 'next era' of music. He views the live performances as an opportunity to introduce new material to audiences, allowing the songs to evolve through connection before ultimately recording them for his forthcoming album.
Tickets will be available through artist presales beginning Friday.
'It's about getting the music to a point where you and your community and everybody is acquainted with the sound and feeling of it,' he said. 'You've explored every aspect of it. You've arranged and rearranged, then go record and share it, versus the opposite, which is most often the case. It's fresh and brand new. Then you go on tour, and you start discovering things in the music on stage you didn't even know were there in the studio.'
'I'm always going to find a space in the show where there's improv,' he said. 'That's at the heart of what I'm all about in trying to represent the cultural music that I come from. I really take a responsibility to push forward. This is about bringing people together, channeling the moment and communal expression.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New York Post
an hour ago
- New York Post
Milwaukee sicko Maxwell Anderson found guilty of murdering, dismembering college student Sade Robinson after first date
A Wisconsin sicko was found guilty of killing and dismembering a 19-year-old college co-ed on their first date in a grisly scene eerily similar to a Netflix documentary he watched days earlier. Maxwell Anderson, 34, sat stone-faced as Judge Laura Crivello read the guilty verdicts in the April 2024 murder of Sade Carleena Robinson after the jury discussed for less than an hour Friday afternoon. Robinson was studying criminal justice at Milwaukee Area Technical College when she met Anderson for dinner on April 1, 2024. Robinson, who was described as being excited for the date, went out to a restaurant and a bar with Anderson before returning to his Milwaukee home. She was reported missing on April 2 when she didn't show up for her shift at a pizzeria. Police conducted a welfare check at Robinson's home on April 3, but found no trace of her. 7 Maxwell Anderson appears in court during his murder trial in Milwaukee, Wisc. on June 5, 2025. AP Robinson's sawed-off leg was found on the shores of Lake Michigan that same day the police visited her residence. Prosecutors used graphic and bloodied photos from Anderson's phone to prove he was the teen's killer. One deleted image recovered by detectives captured Anderson holding Robinson's chopped-off right breast, described as 'his trophy' by one juror. 'This is his trophy in a way,' juror Melissa Blascoe told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. 'Those pictures will be in my mind for quite some time.' 7 Sade Robinson was brutally murdered and dismembered by Maxwell Anderson after their date on April 1, 2024. Sade Robinson/Facebook Along with the leg that matched Robinson's DNA, authorities also found additional body parts, including a foot and human flesh scattered throughout the city. Her right breast is among other parts of her body that haven't been recovered. The jury was provided with additional evidence after the hearing that Anderson and Robinson were inside his home the night she was murdered when her killer turned on the Netflix animated series 'Love, Death & Robots.' In the second season finale, a dismembered corpse is discovered on the beach, similar to Robinson's body. 'I was like, oh, … that's disgusting because that could have been where he got some of his ideas or fantasies,' Blascoe told the outlet. 7 Prosecutors provide evidence pictures to the courtroom including a knife and sheath. AP 7 Maxwell Anderson arrives to court wearing an orange prisoner jumpsuit on April 22, 2024. AP Police found a 'sex dungeon' in Anderson's home after his arrest. In his basement, the creep had 'a sex sling, restraints and handcuffs,' a police source told the Post last April. Other photos on Anderson's phone included pictures of the college student inside his home, described as graphic and disturbing. 'That was pretty damning evidence that shook everyone,' Blascoe said. 'I physically felt like I was gonna throw up at that point. I know a lot of people were shaking and crying.' Some of the photos captured Anderson groping Robinson as she lay face down on his couch. Prosecutors said Robinson was incapacitated at that point and could not have resisted. She said the photos were a turning point in the trials as they physically put Robinson inside the home of her soon-to-be killer. After the brutal killing, Anderson drove Robinson's 2020 Honda Civic around Milwaukee for some time before parking it in North Milwaukee and lighting it on fire. 'He was just making circles around the city and probably just kind of panicking,' Blascoe said. It took the jury 45 minutes to reach a guilty verdict, with the majority of the discussion focusing on the technicalities of the law. 'Everyone agreed pretty early on in the morning that he was guilty,' juror Melissa Blascoe told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. 7 Body parts belonging to Sade Robinson were discovered scattered around Milwaukee in the days after her death. Sheena Scarbrough/Facebook 7 Security footage captured Sade Robinson leaving her apartment building on April 1, 2024. AP The pack of 15 jurors debated on the type of homicide Anderson committed – intentional or reckless. He was ultimately found guilty of first-degree intentional homicide, mutilating a corpse, hiding a corpse and arson. Robinson was remembered by her family, who attended the hearing Friday. 'She will forever be remembered as an angel,' said Sheena Scarbrough, Robinson's mother said outside the courthouse. 'My baby solved her own case. That's how I raised my kids. We don't give up. We are fighters. I demanded justice. I stand tall, I stand affirmative. Sade will continue to walk with me daily and right beside me.' 7 Anderson faces a mandatory life sentence, but Judge Laura Crivello could sentence him to additional extended supervision. AP Anderson is believed to have planned Robinson's killing for months, creating a space covered in a plastic tarp. 'He intended to kill Sade Robinson,' a police source recalled Anderson telling him, according to Fox 6 Milwaukee. No motive for the killing was revealed during the trial. Anderson is scheduled to be sentenced on Aug. 15. He faces a mandatory life sentence, but Judge Laura Crivello could sentence him to additional extended supervision. With Post wires
San Francisco Chronicle
4 hours ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
David Attenborough's 'Ocean' is a brutal, beautiful wakeup call from the sea
NICE, France (AP) — An ominous chain unspools through the water. Then comes chaos. A churning cloud of mud erupts as a net plows the seafloor, wrenching rays, fish and a squid from their home in a violent swirl of destruction. This is industrial bottom trawling. It's not CGI. It's real. And it's legal. 'Ocean With David Attenborough' is a brutal reminder of how little we see and how much is at stake. The film is both a sweeping celebration of marine life and a stark exposé of the forces pushing the ocean toward collapse. The British naturalist and broadcaster, now 99, anchors the film with a deeply personal reflection: 'After living for nearly a hundred years on this planet, I now understand that the most important place on Earth is not on land, but at sea.' The film traces Attenborough's lifetime — an era of unprecedented ocean discovery — through the lush beauty of coral reefs, kelp forests and deep-sea wanderers, captured in breathtaking, revelatory ways. But this is not the Attenborough film we grew up with. As the environment unravels, so too has the tone of his storytelling. 'Ocean' is more urgent, more unflinching. Never-before-seen footage of mass coral bleaching, dwindling fish stocks and industrial-scale exploitation reveals just how vulnerable the sea has become. The film's power lies not only in what it shows, but in how rarely such destruction is witnessed. 'I think we've got to the point where we've changed so much of the natural world that it's almost remiss if you don't show it,' co-director Colin Butfield said. 'Nobody's ever professionally filmed bottom trawling before. And yet it's happening practically everywhere.' The practice is not only legal, he adds, but often subsidized. 'For too long, everything in the ocean has been invisible,' Butfield said. 'Most people picture fishing as small boats heading out from a local harbor. They're not picturing factories at sea scraping the seabed.' In one harrowing scene, mounds of unwanted catch are dumped back into the sea already dead. About 10 million tons (9 million metrics tonnes) of marine life are caught and discarded each year as bycatch. In some bottom trawl fisheries, discards make up more than half the haul. Still, 'Ocean' is no eulogy. Its final act offers a stirring glimpse of what recovery can look like: kelp forests rebounding under protection, vast marine reserves teeming with life and the world's largest albatross colony thriving in Hawaii's Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument. These aren't fantasies; they're evidence of what the ocean can become again, if given the chance. Timed to World Oceans Day and the U.N. Ocean Conference in Nice, the film arrives amid a growing global push to protect 30% of the ocean by 2030 — a goal endorsed by more than 190 countries. But today, just 2.7% of the ocean is effectively protected from harmful industrial activity. The film's message is clear: The laws of today are failing the seas. So-called 'protected' areas often aren't. And banning destructive practices like bottom trawling is not just feasible — it's imperative. As always, Attenborough is a voice of moral clarity. 'This could be the moment of change,' he says. 'Ocean' gives us the reason to believe — and the evidence to demand — that it must be. ___
Hamilton Spectator
6 hours ago
- Hamilton Spectator
Action! Derrick Henry can parlay a 2,000-yard rushing season into a movie cameo with Adam Sandler
BALTIMORE (AP) — 'King Henry' finally has the attention of 'The Waterboy.' Baltimore Ravens star running back Derrick Henry has an offer from Adam Sandler, his favorite actor, to be cast in a movie if the five-time Pro Bowl selection rushes for 2,000 yards this season. The offer grew out of Henry's appearance on radio personality Dan Patrick's show this week to discuss his $30 million, two-year contract extension. Patrick told Henry he would get him in a Sandler movie if he made NFL history with a second 2,000-yard season. Two days later, Sandler made the offer himself in a video shown to Henry on the practice field. 'That's my dawg,' a wide-smiling Henry said while watching the video. Sandler, star of 'Happy Gilmore' and the remake of 'The Longest Yard' along with 'The Waterboy,' said he was in a hotel room while filming his greeting for Henry. At one point, Sandler turned the camera to show his bulldog. 'Two thousand yards-plus this year not only gets you in a movie, but we'll have a nice dinner together and talk about Dan Patrick's facial hair and how hard it is for him to grow it,' Sandler joked in a video posted Friday. 'I love ya and keep it up.' Sandler came up during Patrick's interview with Henry because Patrick was hearing a hoodie for the soon-to-be-released 'Happy Gilmore 2.' Sandler had given Patrick the hoodie. 'Can you do me a favor?' Henry asked Patrick. 'If you ever see him again, tell him I'm a really big fan and would really love to meet him one day.' Patrick left Sandler a voice message — and Sandler responded. 'Dan you're a real one!' Henry later wrote on social media. Henry rushed for 2,027 yards with Tennessee in 2020, when he was an All-Pro and the AP NFL Offensive Player of the Year in the fifth of his eight seasons with the Titans. Henry nearly did it again as a 30-year-old in a resurgence with the Ravens last season, when he ran for 1,921 yards. Saquon Barkley of the Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles led the NFL with 2,005 yards. ___ AP NFL:
