When We Were
2000 · Splasc(H) Records (CDH 690.2) · CD Album · Italy
Michael Gassmann, Stefano Battaglia, Pierre Favre
Tracklist
- Story4:43
- Code And Disorder5:10
- When We Were4:33
- Mater4:14
- New Horizon3:51
- For You5:57
- The Stage Is Ours4:07
- Like Tears In The Rain9:21
- I Said What?2:31
- The Beauty Inside4:48
- Processione5:54
- Sooner, Later5:13
- Final Hour2:57
Personnel & credits
- Luigi NaroArtwork [Graphics Artwork]
- Peter BürliCo-producer
- Martin PearsonEngineer [Recording Engineer]
- Peppo SpagnoliExecutive-Producer
- Michael GassmannMastered By
- Martin PearsonMixed By
- Michael GassmannMixed By
- Stefano BattagliaMixed By
- Pierre FavrePercussion
- Caterina Di PerriPhotography By [Cover Photography By]
- Stefano BattagliaPiano
- Michael GassmannProducer
- Rainer Maria RilkeText By [Quote In Booklet]
- Michael GassmannTrumpet
About this record
Reception
No dedicated critical review of "When We Were" itself surfaced in the searchable English/Italian/German/Swiss jazz press. The album is the trio installment (trumpet/piano/percussion) of a five-disc Splasc(h) cycle drawn from a 1997 Swiss radio (DRS2 Zurich) residency devoted to pianist Stefano Battaglia; the trio session was recorded 20 December 1997. Critical attention in this cycle clustered on the solo and duo volumes rather than on this trio date: AllMusic carries entries/reviews for the solo Vol. 2 (Musica Centripeta) and Vol. 3 (Inner Book, the Gassmann-Battaglia duo) and the Battaglia-Favre duo Omen (Vol. 5), and All About Jazz published a staff review of Vol. 2 — but no review of Vol. 4 (When We Were) was located, and AllMusic/All About Jazz/Discogs all returned HTTP 403 to direct fetches, so their exact contents could not be read. No user reviews or star ratings were found on the accessible Discogs/Stefano Battaglia/Pierre Favre listings either. The recording was later reissued digitally (2015) under the catalog framing "When We Were (The Swiss Radio Tapes 4)." Honest bottom line: this is a small-label Italian/Swiss date with thin, mostly catalog-level coverage and no traceable contemporaneous press devoted to it specifically. Praise written about Battaglia's other Splasc(h) recordings should not be transferred to this album.
Background
The album documents one session from a 1997 residency that Swiss German-language radio (DRS2, Zurich) dedicated to pianist Stefano Battaglia, which Splasc(h) later issued as a five-volume "Swiss Radio Tapes" cycle. "When We Were" is the trio installment: Michael Gassmann (trumpet/flugelhorn), Stefano Battaglia (piano), Pierre Favre (percussion), recorded 20 December 1997 at Radio DRS 2, Zurich, and mixed at Platinum One, Zurich; released on CD in 2000 as Splasc(H) CDH 690.2. Sibling discs from the same residency week: the Gassmann-Battaglia duo "Inner Book" (Vol. 3, recorded 19 Dec 1997) and the Battaglia-Favre duo "Omen" (Vol. 5, Splasc(h) CDH 691.2). Pierre Favre's own discography page (pierrefavre.ch) and Stefano Battaglia's official discography (stefanobattaglia.com) both list the title but carry no descriptive/liner text. The trio is improvisation-oriented (free/contemporary jazz), consistent with Favre's percussion language and Battaglia's then-Splasc(h) period before his ECM years (Raccolto 2005, Re: Pasolini, etc.). The session was reissued digitally in 2015 under the title "When We Were (The Swiss Radio Tapes 4)."