The gentle piano hands of Stefano Battaglia teams up with Salvatore Maiore/b and Roberto Dani/dr for seven pieces that mix gentle melodies with ambitious opuses. Of the former, “River Run” takes you on an atmospheric journey with Maiore’s tensile bass and the leader’s misty haze, while for fifteen minutes “The Lake Isle of Innisfree”(Trivia Question-in what movie did John Wayne’s character come from Innesfree?)* has the trio holding your hand through mystical bogs as Maiore’s bass oozes around the trickling streams laid out by Battaglia. Stately romanticism is on display as piano and bass join together to form the lines of “When I Am Dead My Dearest” and “Where Do You Go?” and Dani is quite conversant underneath the bass and piano volleys on “Chick Lorimor.” Deft and delicate.
ECM Records
*The Quiet Man