The Late Show Band is a band originally founded and led by

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

musician

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, L ...

as Stay Human. They became 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

Stephen Colbert Stephen Tyrone Colbert ( ; born May 13, 1964) is an American comedian, writer, producer, political commentator, actor, and television host. He is best known for hosting the satirical Comedy Central program '' The Colbert Report'' from 2005 ...

late-night talk show A late-night talk show is a genre of talk show popular in the United States, where the format originated. It is generally structured around humorous monologues about the day's news, guest interviews, comedy sketches and music performances. It i ...

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 ...

'' on September 8, 2015. When Batiste departed the show on August 12, 2022,

Louis Cato Louis Cato is the bandleader for The Late Show Band, the house band for ''The Late Show with Stephen Colbert''. Cato is a multi-instrumentalist who plays bass, guitar, percussion, low brass, and others, in addition to vocals. He is also a song ...

became the new bandleader and Stay Human was renamed The Late Show Band, a change that took effect on September 6, 2022.

History

Jon Batiste met fellow musicians

Joe Saylor Joe Saylor is a percussionist, educator, jazz musician and member of the house band for ''The Late Show with Stephen Colbert''. Early life and education Saylor was born in Indiana, Pennsylvania, to musical parents. His mother Paula and fath ...

and Phil Kuehn in 2004 while attending

The Juilliard School The Juilliard School ( ) is a private performing arts conservatory in New York City. Established in 1905, the school trains about 850 undergraduate and graduate students in dance, drama, and music. It is widely regarded as one of the most elit ...

. Batiste began performing in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

in 2005 with Saylor and Kuehn as a trio with Kuehn on

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...

and Saylor on

drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a ...

s. They were joined by two more musicians:

Eddie Barbash Eddie Barbash is an American saxophonist known for his work as a core member of Jon Batiste and Stay Human, and was part of the house band for Late Show with Stephen Colbert through 2016. Early life Barbash was born in West Islip, New York, ...

alto saxophone The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments. Saxophones were invented by Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in the 1840s and patented in 1846. The alto saxophone is pitched in E, smaller than the B t ...

and Ibanda Ruhumbika on

tuba The tuba (; ) is the lowest-pitched musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, the sound is produced by lip vibrationa buzzinto a mouthpiece. It first appeared in the mid-19th century, making it one of the ne ...

. They then became known as Stay Human. In 2013, they released their first full-length album, ''Social Music'', through

Razor & Tie Razor & Tie was an American entertainment company that consisted of a record label and a music publishing company. It was established in 1990 by Craig Balsam and Cliff Chenfeld. Based in New York City (with additional offices in Los Angeles a ...

along with the single "Express Yourself," co-written and produced with

Austin Bis Austin Bisnow (born June 9, 1987), is an American musician, songwriter, record producer, and lead singer of the band Magic Giant. He has written and produced songs for artists such as David Guetta feat. John Legend ("Listen"), Big Time Rush (� ...

. On June 4, 2015,

announced on his

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channel that Stay Human and its bandleader would be the house band for ''The Late Show with Stephen Colbert''. Batiste and Stay Human's "stirring"

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wa ...

performance of "Express Yourself" on Colbert's previous TV show, ''

The Colbert Report ''The Colbert Report'' ( ) is an American late-night talk and news satire television program hosted by Stephen Colbert that aired four days a week on Comedy Central from October 17, 2005, to December 18, 2014, for 1,447 episodes. The show fo ...

'', was the basis for Colbert's decision to name Batiste as bandleader on ''The Late Show''. At this time Batiste also invited multi-instrumentalist Louis Cato to join the band. In February 2016, the band released an album entitled ''The Late Show EP''. On April 22, 2017, Batiste and Stay Human played for the

March for Science The March for Science (formerly known as the Scientists' March on Washington) is an international series of rallies and marches held on Earth Day. The inaugural march was held on April 22, 2017, in Washington, D.C., and more than 600 other cit ...

rally at the Washington Monument in Washington D.C. In the mission statement for the March for Science it states, "The March for Science champions robustly funded and publicly communicated science as a pillar of human freedom and prosperity." During the

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in 2020–2021, the band was introduced as "Jon Batiste and Stay Home-in", as they recorded their musical segments from home. On August 12, 2022, Stephen Colbert announced that Jon Batiste was leaving ''The Late Show'' to focus on his solo career. The band was renamed ''The Late Show Band'', with Cato promoted to band leader. The change took effect on September 6.

Members

(electric and acoustic guitar, banjo, bass, drums, percussion, trombone, tuba, vocals) *

(drums, vocals) * Nêgah Santos (percussion, vocals) * Endea Owens (bass, vocals) * Louis Fouché (saxophone, vocals) * Jon Lampley (trumpet, tuba, vocals)

Former members

(piano,

melodica The melodica is a handheld free-reed instrument similar to a pump organ or harmonica. It features a musical keyboard on top, and is played by blowing air through a mouthpiece that fits into a hole in the side of the instrument. The keyboard usua ...

, vocals) *

(alto saxophone) *

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(saxophonist) * Phil Kuehn (bass) * Maddie Rice (electric and acoustic guitar), now with the

Saturday Night Live Band The Saturday Night Live Band (referred to in the closing credits as The Live Band) is the house band of the NBC television program '' Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL''). Role on ''Saturday Night Live'' The band consists of mostly jazz, R&B, a ...

. * Ibanda Ruhumbika (tuba, trombone) *

Michael Thurber Michael Thurber is an American composer, songwriter, bassist and actor. He is a co-founder of CDZA, a YouTube music collective that performed at the YouTube Music Awards in 2013. Thurber has composed scores for theater productions such as ''Antony ...

(bass)

References

{{Authority control American rhythm and blues musical groups Radio and television house bands Musical groups established in 2004 The Late Show with Stephen Colbert