“It's more just about feeling the wealth of greatness and the depth of humanity that these things that I love really harbor.”

In this episode, musician, composer, and bandleader Jon Batiste talks about revisiting Igor Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring. When he first heard the piece it seemed like cacophony, but repeat listenings (and seeing it used in Disney's Fantasia) gave him an understanding of how the composer was playing with form and narrative and upsetting expectations — ideas Jon would go on to incorporate into his own music.

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Jon Batiste is a musician, composer, bandleader on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, music director for The Atlantic magazine, and co-artistic director of the National Jazz Museum in Harlem.

Did you like the track Jon chose? Listen to the music in full:

The Rite of Spring, Part 1 - Introduction by Igor Stravinsky