Se il 2DAYS PROG +1 è ormai considerato il festival internazionale più importante a livello italiano ed uno tra i più importanti a livello mondiale per la musica rock progressive, non meno rilevante è il resto del programma del Settembre Musicale Verunese che quest’anno celebra la sua 38° edizione. Il Settembre Musicale 2024 viene inaugurato con la serata dedicata alla musica jazz il 1 settembre. Sul palco di Veruno, alla Piazzetta della Musica, negli scorsi anni sono saliti artisti di grande fama tra i quali Stefano Bollani, Paolo Fresu, Enrico Rava, Fabrizio Bosso, Francesco Cafiso solo per citarne alcuni. Anche quest’anno il concerto si terrà al Campo Sportivo di Revislate-Via Chiesa.

 STEFANO DI BATTISTA 

“Morricone stories”

Stefano Di Battista was born in Rome on February 14, 1969 to a family of musicians and music lovers. He began studying the saxophone at the age of 13 in a small neighborhood band, composed mainly of kids. It is here that, until the age of 16, Stefano experimented with what would become one of the essential qualities of his music: joy. During this period he had two decisive encounters that directed him towards his vocation: he discovered jazz, falling in love with the “acid” sound of Art Pepper (“…I immediately wanted to play that way… it was the beginning of my passion”) and met the man who would become his mentor, the legendary alto saxophonist Massimo Urbani (“he was a monster, he played without knowing what came next. Instinctively.”). His path was now marked: Stefano would be a jazz musician. He enrolled at the conservatory, perfected his technique by familiarizing himself with the classical tradition of the saxophone (Jacques Ibert, etc.) and graduated with top marks at the age of 21. He then began playing in various groups and in 1992 he found himself playing by chance at the Calvi Jazz Festival; it was there that he met French musicians for the first time, first of all Jean-Pierre Como who invited him to play in Paris. For Stefano it was a revelation (“when I arrived in France, I had the impression of having been born there. In Italy I had the impression of not existing…”). From that moment on, Stefano shuttled between Rome and Paris, multiplying his auditions in order to secure some engagements. Finally he secured two concerts at the Sunset in Paris, with a trio formed by the drummer Roberto Gatto and the French double bass player Michel Benita. Gatto gave up and was replaced at the last minute by the drummer Aldo Romano, who was struck by the saxophonist’s fascinating style. In an instant, a friendship was born between the two. On the second evening, Stèphane Huchard was on drums and invited Laurent Cugny, who was about to take over the reins of the ONJ (Orchestra Nazionale del Jazz). Stefano was hired instantly. In two dream evenings, Di Battista’s life changed. It was 1994 and his career took off in Paris. He settled in the city and began the wild life of a musician. In addition to participating in Aldo Romano’s project, which resulted in two recordings (Prosodie and Intervista) and his presence in the ONJ directed by Cugny, he continued to meet people, held some concerts in a trio with Daniel Humair and J.F. Jenny Clark, played with American musicians passing through such as Jimmy Cobb, Walter Brooker, Nat Adderly, etc. Di Battista’s career was at a turning point. A pillar of Aldo Romano’s various groups, a member of Michel Petrucciani’s sextet, Stefano began to think about creating a project in his own name. In 1997 his first album for Label Bleu, entitled “Volare”, saw him alongside Flavio Boltro on trumpet, Eric Legnini on piano (his pianist of recent years), Benjamin Henocq on drums and Rosario Bonaccorso on double bass (“the rhythm I’ve always wanted”). In 1998 his first engagement for the historic Blue Note came, for which he recorded the album “A prima vista”, accompanied by the same group of musicians, who among other things would become his stable reference group. In July 1990, the recording of a masterful album where Stefano was joined by the incomparable presence of Elvin Jones on drums (John Coltrane’s legendary drummer), Jacky Terrasson on piano and Rosario Bonaccorso on double bass. The album, with the same title, will then be released in October 2000. The new album, in addition to having great recognition from international critics, won the prestigious French Telerama award, ranking first in the European charts as the best-selling album. In 2016 the album dedicated to the female figure “Womman’s” was released In 2017 he created the soundtrack “solo cuore e amore” nominated for the David Di Donattello In 2020 he created the soundtrack for the film “futura” in theaters September 2021 In 2021/22 and released worldwide in April the new album dedicated to the maestro Morricone in a jazz version IL PROGETTO that will perform live and Morricone Stories Product of Warner Germany is currently at the top of the French and German jazz charts.