Saturday Night director Jason Reitman and music composer Jon Batiste said at Deadline Contenders Film: Los Angeles that music is the “villain” of the Columbia Pictures film. Batiste said during Saturday’s panel that after several conversations with Reitman, “it became very clear” that Saturday Night’s…

A top director once told me 90% of the success of his movies is casting. If you get that right, you are on your way. If that is the case then Saturday Night director and co-writer Jason Reitman nailed it — and then some. With a killer ensemble of more…

It’s a pretty stacked field for the Best Song Academy Award this year, and the Oscarcast producers today set the performers who’ll be bringing the nominated tunes to the stage. Jon Batiste, Becky G, Billie Eilish and Finneas O'Connell, Scott George and the Osage Singers, and Ryan Gosling and Mark…

There are times when one's world unexpectedly shifts off its axis, and everyone involved must scramble and find a new center of gravity. November 10, 2021 was such a day for Jon Batiste and his life partner, Suleika Jaouad. That morning, the acclaimed multi-instrumentalist and bandleader for The Late Show…

Michelle Obama is giving a boost to American Symphony, the Oscar-contending documentary about musician Jon Batiste and his wife, musician Suleika Jaouad. The former first lady introduced the Matthew Heineman film at a special screening Thursday night in New Orleans, a place of special significance…

Matthew Heineman’s documentary profiling Grammy and Oscar winning musician Jon Batiste and the medical struggles for his wife that have marked trying times in their marriage leads the pack of nominees for the 8th Annual Critics Choice Documentary Awards with…

Jon Batiste will perform at the White House state dinner this week for French President Emmanuel Macron. Batiste was bandleader and musical director for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert until he departed earlier this year. He was succeeded by Louis Cato. The state dinner on Thursday will be…

Stephen Colbert announced on tonight’s The Late Show that Academy Award and Grammy winner Jon Batiste is departing after seven seasons to pursue personal and professional interests. "We’ve been so lucky to have a front row seat to Jon’s incredible talent for the past seven years. And will we miss him here? 'Yeaaa!'…

Days after attending the Met Gala, Jon Batiste has postponed the Carnegie Hall debut tomorrow of his American Symphony production. He cited contracting Covid-19 as the reason. The announcement came via his Instagram site. "Thank you to my incredible team and all the musicians who have been on this journey with me,"…

Hot off his five Grammy wins including Album of the Year this month, Oscar winner Jon Batiste has joined the remake of The Color Purple, whose producers include Steven Spielberg, Oprah Winfrey and Quincy Jones. Batiste, who has been band leader and musical director on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert since its 2015…

Jon Batiste hauled home five trophies at the 64th Grammys, including Album of the Year for We Are. He went into the night with 11 nominations and ended up with Album of the Year, American roots performance and American roots song, best score soundtrack for visual media (in a tie with Carlos Rafael Rivera’s score for Th…

Bo Burnham’s Inside and its song “All Eyes on Me,” H.E.R.’s Oscar-winning song from Judas and the Black Messiah, the Oscar-winning score from Soul and the scores from Warner Bros’ Dune and Netflix’s Bridgerton were among the film and TV works  nominated for Grammy Awards on Tuesday. The pair of noms mark the latest…