Such as a trip to the movie theater for the opening of an animated holiday blockbuster. After high school, Batiste studied music at Juilliard. Powers says the film included a lot of Batiste's ideas about jazz. he said. Joe Gardner, the protagonist of Soul, wants one thing: to be a successful jazz musician. "Could I be doing more? ; Graham Norton as Moonwind, a spiritual sign twirler. In it, Foxx plays Joe Gardner, a jazz musician and teacher who dies. Musician Jon Batiste wrote original music and performed it for the Pixar film, which animated his fingers playing the piano. Add to that lineage "Uncle" Lionel Batiste from the Treme Brass Band, Milton Batiste from the Olympia Brass Band and his cousin Russell Batiste, Jr., who played with the Funky Meters. He grew up in Brooklyn, but he began his writing career in Minnesota, working for both City Pages and the Guthrie Theater. He … Batiste actually grew up just outside New Orleans, in Kenner, La. And I think that there's something about that that is the closest to utopia that we'll get to. hide caption. Soul follows Jamie Foxx's Joe Gardner, a down-on-his-luck jazz musician with aspirations of playing with the greats. ", Batiste calls that "getting in the zone. As he was celebrating his new gig, he accidentally fell down a manhole. "It's a rich family tradition, I'll say.". Joe Gardner, a middle school music teacher from New York City, dreams of playing jazz, even though his mother Libba insists he makes his current job full time, fearing for his financial security.One day, Joe learns of an opening in the band of jazz legend Dorothea Williams and auditions at a music club. Joe Gardner, the protagonist of Soul, wants one thing: to be a successful jazz musician. When "Soul" opens Christmas Day it’s going to be an unusually big day for Powers. But it’s going to be rough going. Thousands of people followed him like a pied piper, protesting police brutality with music and dancing. "Oh my goodness, my way of playing, my hands: they're an exact replica in the kind of 3D animation. He's suffered for years paying his dues while working as a middle school band teacher. There's just so much in the track that I felt like even if people don't know the back story, they're going to feel the vibrations in it. For a few brief minutes, Joe is on top of the world. "Because I grew up right there in Minnesota, in Bloomington," he said. That's why we play. Like other Pixar films, “Soul” has slapstick comedy for youngsters and some philosophical depth for grownups. As he was celebrating his new gig, he accidentally fell down a manhole. A previous version of this story misspelled Juilliard as Julliard. … Joe Gardner, a middle school music teacher. "Get a suit, teach, a good suit. When it looks like his luck has finally turned, a series of events transport him into The Great Before — a place where, among other things, souls live before they go to Earth. Meet Joe Gardner. He was the president of the Louisiana Postal Workers Union and led protest and organized around the sanitation strike with Martin Luther King, Jr. Though Pixar’s film follows a fictionalized character Joe Gardner, a high school music teachers with aspirations of becoming a professional jazz musician, Dr. Archer said “The movie starts in my classroom!” Dr. Archer taught at Nathaniel Hawthorne Middle School 74 in Bayside for decades where he inspired generations of students. Bennett Raglin/Getty Images for for National CARES Mentoring Movement He worked on the “Toy Story” movies, and directed “Up” and “Inside Out.” But after beginning work on a new project about a Black jazz musician in New York, he knew he was coming up short.