Animated Disney Pixar film “Soul," called a love letter to jazz, won the Oscar for Best Achievement in Music Written for a Motion Picture (Original Score) and Best Animated Feature Film at the 2021 Oscars.
Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross, and Jon Batiste composed and performed. Jon Batiste thanked his parents in his acceptance speech saying, "My parents took me around clubs in New Orleans when I was 10 years old," and put him into piano lessons. "This moment is a culmination of a series of miracles and I just can't even go into all of it, we don't have that much time... It's just so incredibly powerful to be standing here in the lineage that we come from and the lineage in this film." Watch Batiste's acceptance speech here.
Jon Batiste is the second Black composer to win the award. Herbie Hancock was the first in 1986 for his original score in "Around Midnight." Still performing, Herbie actually performed the tune "Body and Soul" in the Disney Pixar film.
Check out the Soul official soundtrack playlist on Youtube or download it from your favorite retailer here. The first tune on the playlist is their version of "It's All Right," coming soon to the Smooth Jazz Network!