Stefano Di Battista

   This man never ceases to amaze me. My old jazz teacher, Mace Hibbard, first told me about this guy. I have mainly listened to him on YouTube. You can look him up for more on his personel life. I picked up this album about a year ago and loved it. Many great players are on this album. Of course on sax is Stefano Di Battista. On piano is the legendary Kenny Barron. Rosario Bonaccorso on bass.Herlin Riley on drums. Finally, Flavio Boltro on trumpet.
    Today, it happened to come up on my play list on my IPhone and I remember why I love it so much. This guy is a monster! His tone is so clean and pure. This CD was a tribute he put together to Charlie Parker. Battista definitely put in study time for this one. Charlie Parker licks are all over his improvised solo's. Which if you are not familiar with Parker solo's, you probably will not be able to pick them out. Never-the-less, this CD is still enjoyable to bebop and jazz fan. If you can get your hands on this CD I believe it will become one of your favorites very quickly.


This video is the one that impresses me most. His genius of using the  overtones at the beginning is sick! I have tried and tried to mimic his sound on the beginning of this song but just cannot achieve his greatness!