Meet the bandleader picked to set the soundtrack to Colbert's 'Late Show'

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Meet the bandleader picked to set the soundtrack to Colbert’s ‘Late Show’

Jazz musician Jon Batiste has found his groove. At just 28, he’s performed in more than 40 countries, had a No. 1 album on the jazz charts and will be sharing the stage as bandleader with the new “Late Show” host Stephen Colbert starting Sept. 8 on CBS. Growing up in Kenner, La., a suburb of New Orleans, Batiste was surrounded by music, he told Yahoo Global News Anchor Katie Couric. By the time he was 17, he had already released two albums and was on his way to Juilliard to study jazz and classical. Batiste and Colbert first met in 2014 on Colbert’s Comedy Central show, “The Colbert Report.”

I felt an energy. And then he did, too. And we kept speaking over time. And eventually it became a conversation about the show, the next show.

Jon Batiste

Batiste will be taking up the mantle of bandleader, supported by his band, Stay Human. Rooted in the band’s concept of social music, Batiste and Stay Human have become known for their impromptu, second line-like parades called “love riots.” The first time they took to the streets, their performance drew around 300 people and had such high energy that Batiste said it looked like a riot. “The energy was very frenetic. But nobody was breakin’ stuff or hurtin’ anybody. So it’s a love riot.”