Jazz Articles about Stefano di Battista

Cremona Jazz Festival 2021

by Danilo Codazzi
July 6, 2021

Stefano di Battista: Parker's Mood

by Jim Santella
July 5, 2005

Recreating a bit of jazz history, Stefano di Battista displays the kind of blazing-fast technical wizardry that brought Charlie Parker to our attention when bebop was just a youngster. Alternately, he adds tender ballads with his heart on his shirtsleeve to demonstrate that side of Bird which appealed to the lover within each of us. His retrospective performance honors the memory well and pays homage to both Parker and Dizzy Gillespie. Trumpeter Flavio Boltro appears on four tracks. ...

Stefano di Battista: Parker's Mood

by John Kelman
February 11, 2005

Is it possible to be too reverent to one's roots? Over the course of three prior releases for Blue Note, Italian saxophonist Stefano di Battista has honoured a number of players who have informed his music, including Art Pepper, Cannonball Adderley, and Johnny Hodges. But whereas previous discs have delivered homage in the context of largely original compositions, di Battista has chosen for his fourth outing '(only the second to be released in North America) to deliver a direct and ...

Stefano di Battista: Parker's Mood

by AAJ Staff
February 7, 2005

Coming on the heels of another prominent Bird dedication, Anothony Braxton's recently reissued Charlie Parker Project, Parker's Mood is not only a change of pace but a totally distinct look at the music of one of bebop's founding fathers. Whereas Braxton's sprawling work was loose, cantankerous, and abstractly modern, Italian saxophonist Stefano di Battista's collection is strikingly cohesive, focused, and unfailingly true to the tradition. Both aim to revisit compositions written by or associated with Parker, but the outcomes could ...

Stefano di Battista: Parker's Mood

by Stephen Latessa
February 6, 2005

It is hard to settle down and write a well-measured review of any album that opens with “Salt Peanuts." The tune is so full of natural zest that it would even sound glorious played by an orchestra of kazoos. Predictably, the version that kicks off Parker's Mood does not disappoint and energizes the listener for the rest of the album.

Parker's Mood is saxophonist Stefano di Battista's tribute to Charlie Parker and, as such, features ten tracks either ...

Stefano Di Battista: Parker's Mood

by Mark F. Turner
January 24, 2005

The spirit of Charlie “Bird" Parker continues in recent recordings from the deconstructed interpretations of Anthony Braxton's Charlie Parker Project to the modern techno-manipulation of Bird Up! -- The Charlie Parker Remix Project. Now saxophonist Stefano Di Battista brings listeners a more straight-ahead tribute to the founder of bebop. While the true magic of Parker's music can only be imitated, Battista does an admirable job of capturing the essence of classic swing on this new recording.

Both purists and progressives ...

Stefano Di Battista: Stefano Di Battista: Parker's Mood

by Paul Olson
January 19, 2005

If you've seen the title, you've probably got this one figured out. Parker's Mood , Italian saxophonist Stefano Di Battista's fourth Blue Note CD as a leader, is a Charlie Parker tribute. Di Battista's usual bassist and trumpeter Rosario Bonaccorso and Flavio Boltro are teamed up for this session with the Stateside duo of pianist Kenny Barron and Jazz at Lincoln Center powerhouse drummer Herlin Riley for a collection of Birdsongs that stick pretty closely to the originals. Interestingly, the ...