When one door closes, another one opens.
Stephen Colbert announced Aug. 11 that Jon Batiste won't be returning to the Late Show With Stephen Colbert after all. "Sharp-eyed viewers may have noticed that Jon hasn't been here this summer," the host shared. "Well, I have an update: Jon has decided to leave the show. But it's for all the best reasons, including to continue to share his art with the world."
Colbert continued, "We wanted to give him a big, in-person sendoff, but Jon's not in town. I hope he's cutting his new album, and I hope it's called More Grammys Please."
Stay Human member Louis Cato, who has been filling in for Batiste, has now been promoted to band leader and the group has been renamed The Late Show Band. Colbert praised Cato for his abilities, saying, "He's a musical genius. He can play basically every instrument over there. Give him an afternoon, he'll learn how to play Mozart on a shoehorn."
In other words, the Late Show band is in goods hands with Cato, as well as band members Joe Saylor, Louis Fouché, Jon Lampley, Endea Owens and Nêgah Santos.
Batiste, meanwhile, continues to work on his music career, which has flourished in recent years.
Earlier this year, the musician won on an Oscar for his work on Soul and took home five Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year for We Are.
In his Grammy's speech, Batiste honored his fellow nominees, saying that he may have received the award, but it doesn't mean he's better than them. "I believe this to my core, there is no best musician, best artist, best dancer, best actor," he said. "The creative arts are subjective and they reach people at a point in their lives when they need it most. It's like a song or an album is made and it's almost like it has a radar to find the person when they need it the most."
Here's to the next chapter in Batiste's career!
The Late Show With Stephen Colbert airs weeknights on CBS.