Candidate for the Oscar for best documentary, American Symphony invites itself into the intimacy of Jon Batiste

The subject of the new Netflix documentary American Symphony, American musician Jon Batiste exposes the contrast between his stratospheric success and the stark reality of his wife Suleika Jaouad's fight against leukemia. The documentary, available now on the streaming platform, takes an intimate look into the life of the couple, she a writer, he a jazzman and composer who won an Oscar and won five Grammys.

“I wanted it to not only show the artistic process, but also what is required to achieve a level of artistic greatness,” assures Jon Batiste in an interview with AFP. “A lesson that we did not expect is also that of creativity as a survival mechanism,” adds the musician.

The film was born as a fairly classic documentary about how Jon Batiste planned to create and perform a symphony for a single evening, drawing inspiration from music from around the world. But the project suddenly transformed when Suleika Jaouad learned that her cancer had returned, after almost 10 years. The filmed result is at once a love story, a reflection on illness, a chronicle of family life, and an examination of the creative process itself.

Suleika Jaouad, a successful author, already wrote a column in the New York Times about her first battle with cancer. This time, for seven months, the cameras followed Jon Batiste during rehearsals, insomnia, sessions with his psychologist, or even his visits to hospitals where Suleika Jaouad was being treated.

“Allowing the camera to be present in these sacred moments of our lives was live negotiation,” recalls the musician. At the same period, his album We Are garnered the most Grammy nominations in 2022, before winning the award for “best album of the year”, notably ahead of Taylor Swift or Kanye West. But when she returned from Las Vegas with her five Grammys in her pocket, Suleika Jaouad was in the hospital again, fighting the effects of chemotherapy and a second bone marrow transplant.

A very emotional passage from the documentary shows Jon Batiste on stage in front of a packed house during a piano recital. He dedicates the next piece to his wife before stopping for a full minute, fingers on the piano keys, before an improvisation of raw emotion.

The documentary, produced by the Obama couple's production company, is among the favorites for the Oscar for best documentary next March. The songwriter has already won an Oscar for his soundtrack to Soul, the animated film from Pixar studios.

Classically trained and part of a New Orleans musical dynasty, Jon Batiste first rose to prominence as the frontman of the band performing on Stephen Colbert's popular television talk show. His celebrity rose to the next level with the success of We Are, and less than two years later, the jazzman was nominated for six new Grammys in 2024 with his album World Music Radio. The title Butterfly, written for his wife when she was in the hospital, is also nominated for the Grammy for best song of the year. Jon Batiste is the only male artist nominated in the album of the year category, alongside Taylor Swift, Olivia Rodrigo, and the group boygenius.

According to him, he shares with these artists an interest in "real music", when musicians are "in the same room, breathing the same air", rather than relying on technology and computer-produced sounds. Olivia Rodrigo thus brings back to the forefront “a certain “old school” style of songwriting”, considers Jon Batiste, while Billie Eilish is “the voice of her time”, and that boygenius represents a “return to group dynamics and camaraderie based on shared values.

But for Jon Batiste, the most important thing for the Grammys ceremony in February is the one who will be on his arm this time. “She's doing well, and she'll be able to attend the Grammys with me,” he said of his wife. The composer is delighted “to celebrate this album and this song, but also to be present, with her this time. The circle is complete."