Stefano Di Battista “Morricone and More”

Stefano Di Battista – alt saksofon 
Fred Nardin - piano 
Daniele Sorrentino - bass 
Luigi Del Prete – drums 

Alto saxophonist Stefano Di Battista (Rome, 1969) acquired a taste for brass instruments playing in childhood with a neighborhood orchestra. He chose the saxophone at thirteen and fell in love with jazz listening to records by Art Pepper and Cannonball Ederly. Nevertheless, he began a formal education in classical music and played with pop bands until his meeting with the alto saxophonist Massimo Urbani finally turned him into a jazz musician. At the suggestion of pianist Jean-Pierre Como, he moved to Paris in the early 1990s, where he soon contacted drummer Aldo Romano, appeared as a guest on his albums, and conductor Laurent Cougny, who invited him to the new line-up of the Orchester National de Jazz in 1994. From that point on, his career has been more tied to French soil, although he also recorded with fellow countrymen Enrico Rava, Rita Marcotulli and Daniele Scannapieco. 

His recording debut was in 1997 with the album Volare for the then-leading French Label Bleu. The following year, he released the first of five albums for the famous Blue Note label and remained with them for ten years. Later on, he released a collection of compositions dedicated to famous women from the history of the world, Woman's Land (2011), as well as recordings with singer Niki Nikolai and guitarist Silvana Lika, among others.

Starting from 2016, Di Battista has devoted himself entirely to researching the music of his country. He released an album with "Italian standards", then striking jazz covers of film themes by Ennio Morricone (2021), and the new album La dolce vita will also feature music by Nino Rota, Lucio Dalla, Paolo Conte and Bobby Solo.

http://www.stefanodibattista.eu/en/

Support: Italian Cultural Institute in Belgrade