Jon Batiste: Black Mozart

In Black Mozart, Jon Batiste reimagines classical music with the sound of Blackness. On “Alla Blues,” he keeps Mozart’s core melody, but invigorates it with the distinctive twelve-bar blues. He takes it even further on “Alla Turc Movement” with his jazz improvisation. On “Twinkle,” Batiste rejuvenates Mozart’s elementary melody in “Ah vous dirai-je, Maman” with the fascinating stride accompaniment. Batiste turns “Molto” into a blue-jazz standard, but he also turns it up a notch on “Molto in Cayo Hueso” with hypnotizing Spanish rhythms and stomps. Black Mozart might be too sacrilegious for pure classical heads, but the Batiste gives Mozart a fresh vibe. Keep doing your thang, B.