Batiste Symphonic: Jon Batiste and Chineke! Orchestra at Koko

Critically-acclaimed and deservedly decorated musician and composer Jon Batiste performed a rousing set of symphonic arrangements of his works to the crowded hall of London’s Koko, in a sublime collaboration with the persistently brilliant Chineke! Orchestra, and the first of three concerts that he will deliver at the venue.

The Louisiana-born maestro has been composing for orchestral instruments since the early days of his career, and these works were rendered tonight with Chineke! Orchestra’s signature precision and energy. Batiste stepped out to raucous applause, but the usually bustling and chatty venue fell into a rapt silence through the moving performance of American jazz standards such as Georgia on My Mind, while the violins and vocals floated up high to touch the stars. Similarly, Batiste’s interpretation of What a Wonderful World was gentle but very powerful, achieving a remarkable sense of stillness as it simmered down to a solo piano.

Elsewhere, rowdier tracks like Big Money and Freedom got the crowd dancing – not that they needed much convincing, with the atmosphere created by Batiste and the orchestra like a delightful, impromptu party. The pieces made use of the whimsical qualities that can be created through the interplay of individual instruments – keys with wind, strings with horns – but also blended together elsewhere to develop an arresting intensity of feeling in their crescendos – Ain’t No Sunshine is an example. Where Batiste has lifted themes from classical music, he gives them new life in a shade of blue, or a rhythm drawn from the streets of New Orleans – see 5th Symphony in Congo Square, interpreted tonight to thrilling effect, for a classic with a brilliant twist.

Batiste, as a performer, has an inspiring enthusiasm and passion, and the impression he leaves is one of joyfulness – it seemed that everybody on stage was having a wonderful time, not least the conductor Jonathan Heyward, who did brilliantly to translate the sweet melodies of Batiste’s piano across the many parts of the orchestra. There was an enduring lightness to every aspect of the show – even as Batiste led the audience in a slow chorus of Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah towards its close – throughout its oscillations between movement and meditation, and in the steps and smiles of the audience as they filed out into the street at the end of the evening.