Songways is an album by the Stefano Battaglia Trio, featuring Battaglia on piano Salvatore Maiore on bass and Roberto Dani on percussion, recorded in April 2012 and released on ECM the following year.[1]

Songways
Studio album by
ReleasedMarch 5, 2013
RecordedApril 2012
StudioAuditorio Radiotelevisione Svizzera
Lugano, Switzerland
GenreJazz
Length78:03
LabelECM
ECM 2286
ProducerManfred Eicher
Stefano Battaglia chronology
The River of Anyder
(2011)
Songways
(2013)

Reception

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Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic     [2]
PopMatters          [3]

The AllMusic review by Thom Jurek awarded the album 4 stars stating "Songways is European jazz rooted deep in the Italian tradition: it wears both its classicism and post-vanguard lyricism plainly, in the process creating a deft, instinctive, and highly expressionistic music."[2]

The PopMatters review by John Garratt stated "Songways is amorphously terrific. It may not be a jazz or classical release, but it’s one of 2013’s best so far."[3]

The All About Jazz review by John Kelman said that "Songways capitalizes on the strength of a trio that's been honing its craft in multiple contexts for eight years, finding beauty in every nook and cranny even as it eschews the obvious, and continues to hone its profoundly lyrical language with music that paints vivid pictures and evokes cinematic landscapes, encouraging the imagination to run where it will."[4]

The JazzTimes review by Thomas Conrad said "Songways is one of the prettiest piano trio albums of the new millennium... In jazz, “pretty” is often an adjective that damns with faint praise. Battaglia's music is pretty but neither shallow nor soft."[5]

Track listing

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All compositions by Stefano Battaglia

  1. "Euphonia Elegy" - 12:11
  2. "Ismaro" - 5:09
  3. "Vondervotteimittis" - 7:22
  4. "Armonia" - 13:50
  5. "Mildendo Wide Song" - 6:08
  6. "Monte Analogo" - 6:51
  7. "Abdias" - 3:40
  8. "Songways" - 8:42
  9. "Perla" - 5:17
  10. "Babel Hymn" - 8:52

Personnel

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References

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  1. ^ ECM discography accessed December 17, 2013
  2. ^ a b Jurek, T. Allmusic Review accessed December 17, 2013
  3. ^ a b Garratt, J. PopMatters Review March 21, 2013
  4. ^ Kelman, J. Songways Review All About Jazz, March 10, 2013
  5. ^ Conrad T. Songways Review JazzTimes, May 12, 2013