Jon Batiste (best known as the bandleader on “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert”) became the crucial musical weapon in jazzing up Pixar’s “Soul”: Batiste not only composed and arranged the jazz compositions for Jamie Foxx’s animated pianist, Joe Gardner, during his life and death struggle between two worlds, but he also served as a direct resource to director Pete Docter, co-director Kemp Powers, and the character animators. The importance of this can’t be stressed enough: the “Soul” original score has just qualified for Oscar eligibility (ahead of the shortlist announcement on February 9) with its highly unconventional dramatic scoring and underscoring.
“The film is tackling a few heavy existential questions,” said Batiste. “Where does our soul come from? What is our purpose in life? And I had a lot of experience as a musician that I could bring to Joe, trying to get his big break.
“The film is tackling a few heavy existential questions,” said Batiste. “Where does our soul come from? What is our purpose in life? And I had a lot of experience as a musician that I could bring to Joe, trying to get his big break.
- 2/1/2021
- by Bill Desowitz
- Indiewire
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