Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Jon Batiste: Anatomy of Angels

Jon Batiste: Anatomy of Angels

By Chris May
July 14, 2019
View read count

As the bandleader and musical director on CBS TV's The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, pianist

Jon Batiste

piano
b.1986

" data-original-title="" title="">Jon Batiste will be known to many AAJ readers in the US. Here on the other side of the pond his name rings fewer bells. So before discussing Batiste's piano trio + octet album Anatomy of Angels, some background for European readers.

Batiste comes from a distinguished line of New Orleans musicians which includes the late Harold Battiste, whose accomplishments included composing and arranging for Sam Cooke, Lee Dorsey and Dr John. Still in his early thirties, Batiste moved from Louisiana to New York in his late teens to study at Juilliard, and has remained based in the city. On The Late Show, he leads his own mid-sized band, Stay Human, with whom he began recording in 2011. He has also recorded with

Wynton Marsalis

trumpet
b.1961

" data-original-title="" title="">Wynton Marsalis and

Bill Laswell

bass
b.1955

" data-original-title="" title="">Bill Laswell (separately, for there would be blood on the floor if those two were ever involved in the same project). As an actor, he has appeared in three seasons of the HBO series Treme and in Spike Lee's 2012 movie, Red Hook Summer, and has been cast in marketing campaigns for leading finance, automobile and fashion brands.

Anatomy of Angels, which was recorded live with Stay Human at New York's Village Vanguard, is Batiste's second album for Verve, following 2018's sprawling, automusicographical Hollywood Africans, produced by

T Bone Burnett

producer
b.1948

" data-original-title="" title="">T Bone Burnett. The new album is more concise than its predecessor, which was released as a three-sided LP among other formats, and clocks in at just under 36 minutes. It comprises three piano-trio tracks (two Batiste originals plus

Ray Noble

composer / conductor
1903 - 1978

" data-original-title="" title="">Ray Noble's evergeen "The Very Thought of You")—each lasting around five minutes—and two longer, octet features (

Thelonious Monk

piano
1917 - 1982

" data-original-title="" title="">Thelonious Monk's "Round Midnight" and Batiste's "Anatomy of Angels").

Batiste's style is multi-faceted, reflecting his Louisiana heritage but also touching on the atonality of

Cecil Taylor

piano
1929 - 2018

" data-original-title="" title="">Cecil Taylor, the dissonance of Monk and late period

John Coltrane

saxophone
1926 - 1967

" data-original-title="" title="">John Coltrane, the easy melodicism of

Esbjorn Svensson

piano
1964 - 2008

" data-original-title="" title="">Esbjorn Svensson and the gospel-like positivity of

Abdullah Ibrahim

piano
b.1934

" data-original-title="" title="">Abdullah Ibrahim. At its most accessible, as on the bluesy original "Dusk Train to Dohar," it has moments of bracing astringency. At its prettiest, as on "The Very Thought of You," it is

Stan Getz

saxophone, tenor
1927 - 1991

" data-original-title="" title="">Stan Getzian in its lyricism. At its most challenging, as on "Anatomy of Angels" and the high-decibel reading of "Round Midnight" (a version appropriate to the city that never sleeps), it remains listener friendly, something Batiste achieves through well-crafted arrangements which move the narratives along with short chapters and plenty of dramatic action. At times he comes rather too close to being all things to all persons, but by and large he succeeds—Anatomy of Angels is a page-turner.

The album was recorded during a six-night residency at the Vanguard in autumn 2018. If the five tracks are anything to go by, a much larger body of high-grade music must have been performed during the week. So the brevity of the disc is intriguing. Perhaps it is meant to resonate with playing times back in the LP era. Whatever. It certainly leaves one listener wanting to hear more.

Learn more about our star rating system

Track Listing

Creative; Dusk Train to Dohar; The Very Thought of You; Round Midnight; Anatomy of Angels.

Personnel

Jon Batiste

piano

Jon Batiste: piano, vocals (3); Patrick Bartley: alto saxophone: (4, 5); Tivon Pennicott: tenor saxophone (4, 5); Giveton Gelin: trumpet (4, 5); Jon Lampley: trumpet (4); Phil Kuehn: bass; Joe Saylor: drums; Louis Cato: percussion (5).

Album information

Title: Anatomy of Angels | Year Released: 2019 | Record Label: Verve Music Group

PREVIOUS / NEXT

Festival International De Jazz De Mo...
< Previous

The Wroclaw Sessions
Next >

Support All About Jazz

All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.