Stefano di Battista (born February 14, 1969 in Rome) is an Italian jazz saxophonist who plays soprano and alto.

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.

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 as well as an unpublished song dedicated to Stefano, who had the chance to work with the Maestro in his later years.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…

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 recognizable 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. This stems in part from a distinctive feature of Morricone’s music: it places highly emotional melodies within a texture of intelligent harmonies, and jazz does exactly the same, particularly in the hands of someone like Stefano Di Battista.