Stefano Battaglia

This is an interesting title in the wake of the notion that Stefano Battaglia composed most of these pieces and has performed them on earlier recordings – both solo and with various groups – and that Tony Oxley is such a renowned improviser…

On his sixth album for ECM the Italian pianist and his trio reflect on the work of American composer Alec Wilder (1907-1980). "I first came into a more direct contact with Alec Wilder's music in the early 90s, when I was performing his Sonata for Oboe and Piano and his Sonata for Horn and Piano", Battaglia remembers. "I had already known some of his popular songs like "While We're Young", "Blackberry Winter" and "Moon and Sand" through the intense versions Keith Jarrett has recorded. But after working on Wilder's chamber music I wanted to develop a deeper connection with his intriguing musical universe, and I've discovered an immense hidden treasure"…

A sophisticated Italian pianist, Stefano Battaglia is known for his atmospheric, richly textured brand of jazz and classical. Building upon the work of artists like Keith Jarrett, Bill Evans, and Cecil Taylor, Battaglia emerged to acclaim in the 1980s and has collaborated with a range of jazz musicians from Kenny Wheeler and Lee Konitz to Barre Phillips and his frequent collaborator, bassist Paolino Dalla Porta…

The research by Stefano Battaglia and that of Michele Rabbia share training ( classical for both) , the sensual attraction for jazz , a love of classical music of the ' 900 , which extend in particular to two of the big issues which moves the musical evolution : I'm referring to the world of sound , the quest for its expansion and the theme of improvisation.

Milanese pianist and composer Stefano Battaglia has walked on both sides of the classical and jazz street with ease and comfort. Whether performing Bill Evans or Pierre Boulez, he plays with integrity and authority. The double-disc Raccolto is his ECM debut, and he performs in two different settings to illustrate his tremendous gifts as both an improviser and a composer. His romantic leanings and sometimes pointillistic playing reveal his influences, from Evans to Paul Bley to Keith Jarrett. He carries his mentors with ease inside his gig bag. Disc one showcases Battaglia in a jazz trio setting with bassist Giovanni Maier and percussionist Michele Rabbia (who plays on both discs).

Stefano Battaglia plays both piano and prepared piano (sometimes simultaneously) in a highly attractive double-album programme that includes his own compositions and spontaneous improvisations as well as two versions of the Arabic traditional song “Lamma Bada Yatathanna”. The melodic and texturally-inventive pieces, some of almost hypnotic allure, were recorded both in concert and in “closed doors” sessions at the Fazoli Concert Hall in Sacile, Italy, in May 2016, and subsequently arranged into what Battaglia describes as “a wonderful new shape with a completely new dramaturgy” by producer Manfred Eicher.