Jazz musician Jon Batiste won the 2021 Golden Globe Award for best original score for his work on the hit Pixar film Soul.
Batiste shared the award with Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross.
They won the Golden Globe over fellow nominees Alexandre Desplat (The Midnight Sky), Ludwig Göransson (Tenet) and James Newton Howard (News of the World). Reznor and Ross were also nominated a second time in the same category for their work on David Fincher’s Mank.
Congratulations to Trent Reznor (@trent_reznor), Atticus Ross, Jon Batiste (@JonBatiste) – Best Original Score – Motion Picture – Soul (@PixarSoul). – #GoldenGlobes pic.twitter.com/ZySVtWtrJ4
— Golden Globe Awards (@goldenglobes) March 1, 2021
Soul is the story of Joe Gardner, a middle-school music teacher who still dreams of making it as a jazz musician.
The film’s producers consulted various jazz notables including Herbie Hancock and Terri Lyne Carrington, but it was Batiste who wrote the original jazz compositions that were featured in the film, and whose sessions were used as visual reference for the scenes of Joe playing the piano. Reznor and Ross composed the rest of the film’s score.
Soul also won the Golden Globe for best animated feature film.
Despite the global circumstances, Batiste has entered an especially lucrative period of his career. In addition to his recent accolades, the 34-year-old is getting ready to release a new solo album called We Are, which he says is “just the beginning.” Meanwhile, Batiste continues to lead his band Stay Human on The Late Show every weeknight.