Louis Cato is the bandleader for The Late Show Band, the

house band A house band is a group of musicians, often centrally organized by a band leader, who regularly play at an establishment. It is widely used to refer both to the bands who work on entertainment programs on television or radio, and to bands which ...

for ''

The Late Show with Stephen Colbert ''The Late Show with Stephen Colbert'' is an American late-night news and liberal political satire talk show hosted by Stephen Colbert, which premiered on September 8, 2015. Produced by Spartina Productions and CBS Studios, it is the second it ...

''. Cato is a

multi-instrumentalist A multi-instrumentalist is a musician who plays two or more musical instruments at a professional level of proficiency. Also known as doubling, the practice allows greater ensemble flexibility and more efficient employment of musicians, where ...

who plays bass, guitar, percussion, low brass, and others, in addition to vocals. He is also a songwriter, with one album to his credit and a second in production.

Early life

Louis Cato was born on May 3, 1985, in

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

, to

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

parents. At the time, his father was stationed in Portugal by the US military, but the family left the country a few months after Cato's birth and he grew up in

Albemarle, North Carolina Albemarle () is a small city and the county seat of Stanly County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 15,903 in the 2010 Census. Gerald R. "Ronnie" Michael (a former police chief in the city) serves as Mayor and Albemarle has a se ...

. His mother was a church organist, and Cato began playing drums at age two. He attended

Berklee College of Music Berklee College of Music is a private music college in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known for the study of jazz and modern American music, it also offers college-level cours ...

in Boston, Massachusetts, for two semesters before leaving in 2004.

Career

Cato met

Marcus Miller William Henry Marcus Miller Jr. (born June 14, 1959) is an American musician, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known for his work as a bassist. He has worked with trumpeter Miles Davis, pianist Herbie Hancock, singer Luther Vandros ...

at a jam session at the

North Sea Jazz Festival The North Sea Jazz Festival is an annual festival held each second weekend of July in the Netherlands at the Ahoy venue. It used to be in The Hague but since 2006 it has been held in Rotterdam. This is because the Statenhal where the festival w ...

. They subsequently toured for several years. Cato joined the band Stay Human at the inception of Colbert's '' Late Show'' in 2015 and served as interim

bandleader A bandleader is the leader of a music group such as a rock or pop band or jazz quartet. The term is most commonly used with a group that plays popular music as a small combo or a big band, such as one which plays jazz, blues, rhythm and blues or ...

whenever the original leader

Jon Batiste Jonathan Michael Batiste (born November 11, 1986) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, bandleader, and television personality. He has recorded and performed with artists in various genres of music (Stevie Wonder, Prince, Willie Nelson, ...

was unavailable. Batiste took a break from the Colbert show in the summer of 2022, and announced on August 12 that he would not be returning. Cato was appointed the new bandleader of the house band, renamed "The Late Show Band", and formally took over on September 6. Colbert described Cato as a musical genius, saying "He can play basically every instrument over there. Give him an afternoon, he’ll learn how to play Mozart on a shoehorn." Cato released his first solo record, titled ''Starting Now'', in 2016 through RSVP Records. He wrote all the songs in collaboration with his writing partner Adam Tressler. In 2019, Cato toured Ireland as a drummer with

Paul Brady Paul Joseph Brady (born 19 May 1947) is an Irish singer-songwriter and musician from Strabane, Northern Ireland. His work straddles folk and pop. He was interested in a wide variety of music from an early age. Initially popular for playing ...

. Cato lived and worked with

Michael League Michael League (born April 24, 1984) is an American composer, producer, and multi-instrumentalist. He is the bandleader of New York-based instrumental band Snarky Puppy and the international music ensemble Bokanté. He also founded the band Fo ...

and Justin Stanton of

Snarky Puppy Snarky Puppy is an American instrumental band led by bassist Michael League. Founded in 2004, Snarky Puppy combines a variety of jazz idioms, rock, world music, and funk and has won four Grammy Awards. Although the band has worked with vocalist ...

Gisela João Gisela Joao Gomes Remelho (born November 6, 1983) is a Portuguese fado singer. The album ''Gisela João'' was number one in Portugal and was Ípsilon/ Público's and Blitz's record of the year. Early years Born in Barcelos, João soon develo ...

, and

Becca Stevens Becca Stevens (born June 14, 1984) is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist who draws upon elements of jazz, chamber pop, indie rock, and folk. Early life and education Stevens was born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina as the youngest ...

while working on the album ''Mirrors'' in 2020. The album shares the name with the jazz

supergroup Supergroup or super group may refer to: * Supergroup (music), a music group formed by artists who are already notable or respected in their fields * Supergroup (physics), a generalization of groups, used in the study of supersymmetry * Supergroup ...

the musicians formed. Cato has announced he is in post-production on his new album ''Reflections'' as of August 2022.

Personal life

Cato was involved in a tour bus crash while on tour in

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

with Marcus Miller in November 2012. Cato stated he broke his back in two places and sprained his neck. Cato is married and has two children.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cato, Louis Living people People from Albemarle, North Carolina American bandleaders African-American male guitarists Berklee College of Music alumni American jazz multi-instrumentalists African-American jazz musicians The Late Show with Stephen Colbert Stay Human (band) members Musicians from Lisbon 21st-century African-American musicians Year of birth missing (living people)