Watch video for “Gospel Andante” by Jon Batiste, produced by Jon Batiste. Listen, stream, buy the track, mp3 download.

The multi-Grammy, Emmy, and Oscar-winning pianist, singer, and bandleader returns to his roots with a piece that bridges centuries and continents. Jon Batiste, the New Orleans-born artist who redefined American music with his 2021 Album of the Year “We Are,” marks Juneteenth with the release of “Gospel Andante”. The track is the latest single from his forthcoming album Black Mozart (Batiste Piano Series, Vol. 2), out August 14 on Decca Records US.

“Gospel Andante” is a solo piano piece that places Mozart’s classical vocabulary in direct conversation with the Black American musical traditions that have shaped Batiste’s life and work. The result is a piece that moves with the gentle pace of an andante while carrying the deep resonance of church music and the spiritual gravity of New Orleans. Batiste, who trained as a classical pianist and comes from a long line of Louisiana musicians, uses the piano to create a space where European structure meets African American improvisation. The title itself announces the fusion: “Gospel” names the spiritual source, “Andante” names the walking tempo.

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The official music video, directed by Alan Ferguson, returns Batiste to the city at the heart of that musical foundation. Ferguson, whose credits include Beyoncé, Jay-Z, and Solange, previously directed the video for “Freedom,” which won Best Music Video at the 64th Grammy Awards. The visual for “Gospel Andante” was shot in New Orleans. The release date lands on Juneteenth, a deliberate choice that underscores the album’s central idea: the dialogue between European classical music and African American musical traditions like gospel, blues,…