No More Mr. Nice Guy
Lello Molinari, an Italian bassist and recent graduate of Berklee, could easily be doing the 1960's modal thing too. But those Bostonian eclectics have gotten hold of him (he's recording for Accurate, after all). "C'era Chi?" is an exercise in conflicting lines, the sort you might get from the Jazz Composers' Alliance or from Either/Orchestra (of course, it's Doug Yates who contributes the blistering alto solo). When the Italian of the title ("That was who?") is correctly pronounced, it sounds just like a certain bop chestnut - nuff said. The foundation to "Blues Anyone?" is Molinari's Monkish lope with tap-dancing complicity from Matt Wilson (another denizen of the Either/Ork).
"Stuntman," Luigi Tessarollo's frantic tribute to cars skidding on oil slicks and the people who drive them, features the wild tenor of George Garzone, who's been on the Fringe for 20 years. Tessarollo is believable when he goes straightahead, even when he threatens to uproot trees with his bare hands, but I find him overly fond of Frisellian swells. Garzone also contributed the sardonic romp "No More Mr. Nice Guy", the ballad "Your Child", and a brief thrash called "The Wall," which must have cracked loose from Ronald Shannon Jackson's workshop. Molinari's "Goodnight Sweetheart" makes for a meditative conclusion; Yates' bass clarinet and Garzone's soprano could be the Ethnic Heritage Ensemble contemplating pagodas by moonlight - all that's missing is the African thumb piano.
A nicely varied debut outing; there's just one snag. 38 minutes is LP length but this recording is too recent to have been intended for LP release. - Robert L. Cambell
