Jon Batiste, “World Music Radio.”

“World music” is such a fraught term. It’s often treated like an “everything else” genre, while there may be as many different sounds and styles that fall into it as stars in the sky. The global nature the name implies is also a misnomer, as the musicians who make it are often telling very specific stories about their cultures with unique instruments, scales and time signatures. I think back to the late, great Belizean singer-songwriter Andy Palacio, who viewed it his life’s mission to spread the word about his Garifuna heritage and make his people proud of it.

On his sprawling new album, World Music Radio, Grammy and Oscar winner Jon Batiste approaches the concept from another angle: blending his already amorphous brand of jazz, soul and pop with influences from other parts of the world. He does this both in his own songwriting and arrangements, as well as a ludicrously long list of guest artists; some credited, but even more are not.

Did I mention this is a concept album? Over 21 tracks, Batiste presents his case that all music is connected in a radio show format hosted by an old-school DJ named Billy Bob Bo Bob. There’s even a call-in segment with a real New Orleans number. Give it a call now to hear the album’s opening; I’ll wait: 504-305-8269.

OK, collected your breath? On spoken-word opener, “Hello, Billy Bob,” our radio show host promises “an experience” where things will get “rowdy” over twinkling radio tones and modulated bass. It’s corny, sure, but by the end of the album, you my find yourself agreeing. The host announces the music on the show comes from all over the world and explains that it will take us from Saturday night to Sunday morning. Batiste isn’t just setting a mood, he’s actually setting the time. It’s a technique pulled straight from the “Thrilling Adventure Hour.”

The opener ends with a mishmash of Latin dance music that leads into uptempo “Raindance.” This one sounds vaguely Afro-Caribbean at first. The song includes Batiste’s jubilant vocalizations before Native American group Native Soul enters the mix with chanted songscapes. And as the song winds down, Billy Bob again enters the picture to transition us to the next song. “Be who you are … everyone else is already taken,” he sings. And just like that, we’re at “Be Who You Are,” with the album’s first big features. This is decidedly a reggae song, despite the rapped verses by J.I.D and Colombian hitmaker Camilo. Then K-pop group NewJeans enters the mix for a few of its own bars. The juxtaposition of the vocals, sung in English, Spanish and Korean, with the sound is pretty beautiful.

The song ends with (presumably) Jon Batiste on the piano, striking some jazzy chords, which is unlike anything else on this song specifically, even though these jazzy piano parts help connect everything else on the album. The vocals aren’t too complex or deep; a mixture of the inspirational and aspirational. They could be repeated—like much of Billy Bob’s Jon-Batiste-isms—as mantras or mottos. “We are born the same/ Return to that place,” Batiste repeats on “Worship,” with the last word clipped. Then he turns to his family, repeating, “Oh my father/ Oh my mother/ Oh my brother/ Oh my sister,” as the song builds and builds with a six-member choir and suddenly drops away into a Latin dance rhythm, starting a different sort of build.

The song demonstrates a repeating sonic theme on World Music Radio: If you don’t like something, give it 30 seconds, and it’ll sound different. Much like radio itself.

Still, four songs in, you may be thinking, “Sure, this album is global, but it’s global pop.” True, “world music” is more closely associated with folk and traditional sounds. Acoustic instruments. That’s why Jon Batiste does a 180 by plopping “My Heart” right here. This jazzy, folky tune features the smoky, folky vocals of Catalonian (Spain) jazz musician Rita Payés over a trumpet, trombone, flute, twinkling keys and electronic snare drumming. You’ll feel transported to a ’40s club—before some sitar plucks and synthetic instruments jar you out of there in a second flat.

World Music Radio is so purposefully all over the place that you may start to feel tired from all the traveling you’re doing.

The album switches gears after the Afrobeat-sounding “Drink Water” (featuring Jon Bellion—who also sings backup on pretty much all the album’s songs—and Nigerian singer Fireboy DML). From here on out, jazz and American soul music play a larger role, the former perhaps even more so than on 2021’s WE ARE, which swept the 2022 Grammys with 14 nominations among seven categories (a first) and five wins including Best Album.

The 75-second “Clair De Lune” opens with muted chants, before Kenny G pops up for a sax solo. On “Uneasy,” he plays a choppy piano part, with Lil Wayne putting his fingerprints all over it. “White Space” bridges the space between jazz and pop with flowing, nimble piano chords over modulated vocals.

“MOVEMENT 18’ (Heroes)” is a flowing piano piece with multiple voiceovers by jazz greats Wayne Shorter, Duke Ellington and New Orleans’ Alvin Batiste, as well as producer Quincy Jones. An aged voice reads part of the Lord’s Prayer before switching to a quote praising God for giving him the abilities and skills to be a good person. Then we leave the first speaker altogether for a recording of a speech praising New Orleans artists. A bit later, there’s a recording of a famous Ellington interview: “Oh, man, I got a million dreams. That’s all I do is dream. All the time,” he says. The interviewer retorts that Ellington is a piano player. “No, this is not piano. This is dreaming.”

The song ends with an Arabic prayer. It’s a big picture song, one that sees Jon Batiste expound on his influences and beliefs. And if he can sell this song to pop music fans, it will be one heck of a win.

There’s also some of the soul music that gave the last album so much heart. “Wherever You Are” is a dramatic Motown ballad but with Eastern violin accents thrown in at the end. By the end, the sound melts down into a cacophony of—very possibly—every instrument featured on the album. “Please be seated” a voice announces, teasing an encore (or bonus track), piano and strings ballad “Life Lesson,” featuring Lana Del Rey. “You’re happy ’til you’re not,” she sings in true Lana fashion in response to him affirming that we shouldn’t ever second-guess ourselves and to follow our hearts.

Batiste crams every bit of space on the album with unique sounds. “Calling Your Name” is a short synth-pop tune—the only one of its kind here. “Sang My Song,” also called “CALL NOW (504-305-8269),” features Batiste’s father, Michael Batiste, and sounds a lot like Michael Jackson. It’s during this one that Billy Bob pops up with the “call-in contest.”

“Chassol” (written by 47-year-old French composer Christophe Chassol and doesn’t include Batiste in any way) is a jazz interlude, paired with a French spoken-word introduction for “BOOM FOR REAL.” This one begins with a crowd cheering as metallic percussion rings somewhere ahead. That’s soon replaced with a digitized and distorted rock beat (think Gorillaz). The switch gets flipped, and suddenly we’re listening to the country-esque “Master Power,” co-written by one-time San Francisco retro indie artist Nick Waterhouse, who also plays guitar on the song.

“From the concrete grew a flower/ Don’t forget about your master power,” Batiste sings.

Besides the Lana Del Rey song, there’s some more balladry with “Running Away” with Little Mix member Leigh-Anne (“You can’t keep running if you’re running away”) and the McCartney-like “Butterfly.” The latter was co-written by Semisonic’s Dan Wilson, which makes a lot of sense.

For those who’ve experienced Jon Batiste in concert, there’s no more fitting album closing statement (or motto) than interlude “Goodbye, Billy Bob,” a sign-off for our DJ. “I love you even if I don’t know you,” says the DJ, which is a refrain Batiste makes at concerts.

Batiste wrote these songs in places all over the world and recorded them at both his Brooklyn studio, in Long Island, N.Y. and at Rick Rubin’s Shangri-La studios in Malibu with a team of artists and producers who came and went. World Music Radio reflects the eclectic music tastes and art-making techniques. It’s unlikely to have the same cultural impact as WE ARE. That album was both a product of his wide-ranging skills and the times. He’s got no control over the latter.

But really, it’s more than an album, with a baked-in story that opens the door to get Batiste a Tony should he develop it into a theater script. I think it could bring him a step closer to an EGOT.

Follow editor Roman Gokhman at Twitter.com/RomiTheWriter.