Lee Konitz,Tiziana Ghiglioni,Stefano Battaglia - So Many Stars

Styles: Vocal, Piano And Saxophone Jazz
Year: 1992
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 79:19
Size: 184,9 MB
Art: Front

(3:39)  1. Lone Lee into Free Duet
(2:39)  2. Lover Man (Take 2)
(6:41)  3. So Many Stars (Take 1)
(6:30)  4. While We're Young (Take 1)
(5:18)  5. My Foolish Heart (Take 1)
(7:14)  6. My Funny Valentine (Take 1)
(4:33)  7. My Romance (Take 3)
(5:40)  8. O Cantador (Take 1)
(8:15)  9. My Funny Valentine (Take 2)
(5:55) 10. I'll Wind
(6:03) 11. Summertime (Take 2)
(6:04) 12. From This Moment On
(7:44) 13. It Never Entered My Mind
(3:00) 14. Blues for Red Mitchell (Section 2)

Lee Konitz's prolific recordings for Philology are wide ranging, with no two sessions alike, and this free form date with singer Tiziana Ghiglioni and pianist Stefano Battaglia is no exception. Alternating between alto and soprano saxes, he is playing at his usual high level throughout the date. Ghiglioni begins "Lover Man" unaccompanied with a fragile tone that grows more so as Konitz's light toned alto sax joins her. Battaglia's bittersweet arrangement of "My Foolish Heart" features Konitz's haunting soprano sax set the mood before Ghiglioni finally makes her entrance. The moody reharmonization of the master take of "My Funny Valentine" is yet another highlight, while the alternate is more abstract. The softness of Ghiglioni's vocals invite comparison to Meredith D'Ambrosio, so it will probably be difficult for this enjoyable singer to achieve widespread attention, but her work is worth exploring. Producer Paolo Piangiarelli proves to be a discographer's dream as he not only labels which take was used for each song but also indicates when a solo was substituted from an alternate take. ~ Ken Dryden https://www.allmusic.com/album/so-many-stars-mw0000232613

Personnel:  Lee Konitz - alto saxophone, soprano saxophone; Tiziana Ghiglioni - vocals; Stefano Battaglia - piano.

So Many Stars

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Stefano Battaglia Trio - Songways

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 2013
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 78:08
Size: 179,1 MB
Art: Front

(12:11)  1. Euphonia Elegy
( 5:09)  2. Ismaro
( 7:22)  3. Vondervotteimittis
(13:50)  4. Armonia
( 6:09)  5. Mildendo Wide Song
( 6:51)  6. Monte Analogo
( 3:40)  7. Abdias
( 8:42)  8. Songways
( 5:17)  9. Perla
( 8:52) 10. Babel Hymn

Since his relationship with ECM began in 2003, Stefano Battaglia has been consistent in his use of different constellations for each recording, from 2006's double-disc Raccolto, where the Italian pianist worked with two different trios, and 2007's Re: Pasolini, another two-CD set where one employed a more broadly defined sextet and the other a string-centric quintet, to the vulnerable duo of 2010's Pastorale, with percussionist and electronic manipulator Michele Rabbia a largely constant companion throughout these three recordings. Battaglia's reliance on unusual contexts also contributed to the broader landscape of his emergent ECM discography. So it was something of a surprise when he reenlisted drummer Roberto Dani and double bassist Salvatore Maiore, who'd both performed on Re: Pasolini's sextet disc (and, in the case of Maiore, one of Raccolto's two trios). Clearly Battaglia felt compelled to further explore a specific chemistry with these two players, but in a more intimate setting. Rather than adhering to conventions often suggested by this standard configuration, however, The River of Anyder (2011) turned out to be career-defining album of unsettling and unpredictable beauty.

It's also clear that Battaglia enjoyed the experience because, for the first time since commencing his work with ECM, the pianist has delivered a second recording with the identical lineup. With Songways, Battaglia continues to explore a similar direction as Anyder, equally defined by gossamer lyricism and delicate interaction, whether in the context of stricter form or more open-ended rubato freedom. But here, the diaphanous interplay is more profound, even as Battaglia's writing for the trio has become increasingly specific, allowing each member greater freedom to more fully realize their roles in what is an equilateral triangle of finesse, melodism and subtle power. The album opens with "Euphonia Eulogy," one of two tracks that break the 12-minute mark, but there the similarities between them end. "Euphonia" is a tone poem that nevertheless possesses its own forward motion through an underlying turbulence that unfolds slowly but relentlessly, as Battaglia asserts a rolling motion with his left hand, even as he layers spare melodies with his right. Maiore adds unpredictable yet somehow inevitable harmonic movement, while the delicate pitches of Dani's cymbal splashes and soft tom rolls transcending texture to create gentle melodic counterpoint. "Armonia," on the other hand, relies more fully on space and darker textures, with Maiore only entering halfway to more firmly define form and pulse, even as Battaglia turns to building a long-form melody that feels somehow connected to antiquity even as it clearly occupies a contemporary harmonic space.

It's an approach that Battaglia's trio refers to often: concepts steeped in historical and cultural premises while never feeling time-stamped. Instead, the same out of time rather than of a time quality that so defined River of Anyder is even more omnipresent on Songways' 10-song, 78-minute program. Songways capitalizes on the strength of a trio that's been honing its craft in multiple contexts for eight years, finding beauty in every nook and cranny even as it eschews the obvious, and continues to hone its profoundly lyrical language with music that paints vivid pictures and evokes cinematic landscapes, encouraging the imagination to run where it will. ~ John Kelman  http://www.allaboutjazz.com/songways-stefano-battaglia-ecm-records-review-by-john-kelman.php

Personnel: Stefano Battaglia: piano; Salvatore Maiore: double bass; Roberto Dani: drums.

Songways

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Stefano Battaglia - Pastorale

Styles: Piano, Avant-Garde
Year: 2010
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 61:23
Size: 152,5 MB
Art: Front

(6:28)  1. Antifona Libera
(5:59)  2. Metaphysical Consolations
(3:55)  3. Monasterium
(2:28)  4. Oracle
(3:58)  5. Kursk Requiem
(8:05)  6. Cantar Del Alma
(4:50)  7. Spirits Of Myths
(7:00)  8. Pastorale
(5:50)  9. Sundance In Balkh
(9:48) 10. Tanztheater
(2:56) 11. Vessel Of Magic

In many ways, Italian piano explorer Stefano Battaglia's work with the German ECM label beginning with the opaque beauty and greater extremes of 2006's Raccolto, and continuing with 2007's more ambitious and stylistically far-reaching Re: Pasolini has been leading to this. Pastorale, unlike those previous releases, is a single disc, pared down in other ways as well. Instead of the trios on Raccolto and quintet/sextet of Pasolini, here Battaglia is back with only his longstanding percussionist, Michele Rabbia. The inherent flexibility and intimacy of the duo setting affords Battaglia the opportunity to explore a program of quiet, near-static landscapes and more florid terrain, combining natural acoustic sounds with subtle electronics and delicate prepared piano treatments. Battaglia is a pianist who, rather than straddling the classical and jazz worlds, finds his own meeting place where they come together in remarkable synchronicity. Battaglia also dissolves the line between form and freedom, drawing from the entire musical spectrum as he touches on the Middle East with "Sundance in Balkh." A sketch of a context joins with Rabbia's frame drum to develop a piece that also straddles the fence between minor key plaintiveness and major key celebration, building in intensity and intent over the course of six minutes. On the title track, Battaglia creates an unsettling juxtaposition between right handed lyricism and left-handed dissonance.

Battaglia's use of prepared piano and Rabbia's incorporation of electronic sound sources expands what might appear, on paper, to be a simple pairing of piano and percussion. The arc of Pastorale builds from the ground up, with the melancholy "Antifona Libera" founded on rich, repeated voicings that demonstrate Battaglia's versatile touch; soft, when necessary, strong when demanded. His part grows almost exponentially, as Rabbia's bowed cymbal and other devices create textural, near-lyrical lines that float above Battaglia's mid-register. The beauty of Rabbia's work on this disc is that, while Battaglia's playing could stand on its own, the percussionist's additions whether textural or gently rhythmic don't just enhance the sound, they expand it in significant and profound ways. That this duo builds eminently appealing soundscapes is all the more surprising when it turns more foreboding, as it does on "Spirits of Myths," or busier, as it does on "Oracle" which, with Battaglia's flittering lines and Rabbia's percussion filling the entire three-dimensional audioscape, is more about color and feel than melody and pulse. 

"Metaphysical Consolations" may, in its harmonic and rhythmic stasis, be closer to Morton Feldman territory than anything in the jazz sphere, but with Rabbia's soft brushwork driving the brooding "Cantar del Alma," Battaglia comes closer to the jazz vernacular, albeit impressionistically and imbued with an unmistakable melancholy classicism. An album of contrasting dark thoughts and brighter ideations, the masterful Pastorale strikes an almost immediate subconscious chord. Resonating on a deep level, it's Battaglia's purest, most vividly evocative and provocative album to date. ~ John Kelman  http://www.allaboutjazz.com/pastorale-stefano-battaglia-ecm-records-review-by-john-kelman.php

Personnel: Stefano Battaglia: piano, prepared piano; Michele Rabbia: percussion, electronics.

Pastorale

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