Alessandro di Battista Assange

Stefano di Battista (born February 14, 1969) is an Italian jazz musician who plays soprano and alto saxophone. Di Battista began playing at thirteen with friends and became interested in jazz after hearing Art Pepper. In Italy he received guidance from Massimo Urbani and by his twenties di Battista was performing in Paris. He put out his debut as a leader in 1997 and has toured with the Elvin Jones Jazz Machine.

Even when music is notated relatively precisely, as in music, a performer must make many decisions because the notation does not specify all elements of the music. The process of deciding how to perform music that has been previously composed and notated is called "interpretation". Interpretations of the same piece of music by different performers can be very different in terms of the tempos chosen, the style of playing or singing, or the phrasing of the melodies. Composers and songwriters who perform their own music interpret their songs in the same way as those who perform the music of others. The standard choices and techniques available at a particular time and place are referred to as performance practice, while interpretation generally refers to the individual choices of a performer.

The Italian saxophonist pays tribute to the great Ennio Morricone, who passed away last summer. The album features Morricone’s most famous works (Once Upon a Time in America, The Mission, The Great Silence etc.) as well as an unpublished song dedicated to Stefano, who had the chance to work with the Maestro in his later years.
Ennio Morricone’s film music provides an infinite treasure trove of creative thinking, associated with the most varied of images. It is also extremely versatile, just waiting to be delved into, reworked and rediscovered - his compositions would still be equally enjoyable and perfectly recognisable performed by a Bulgarian choir or a quintet of ocarinas. But throwing jazz into the mix takes things to a whole new level, creating what feels like a perfect match, a natural, perhaps even inevitable partnership…