No More Mr. Nice Guy
On A Boston Night
☆ ☆ ☆
Molinari: George Garzone (ss, ts); Douglas Yates (as, bcl); Luigi Tessarollo (g);
Matt Wilson (d). 9/91
☆ ☆ ☆
As above, except Rick Peckham (g) and Bob Gullotti (d) replace Tessarollo and Wilson. 3/94
Molinari is an Italian who's hooked up with some of the interesting local voices on the Boston Scene. The first album is a studio date and runs through a gamut of styles: clever post-bop on "C'era Chi?", flat-out storming on "Stunt Cars". Yates (who along with Wilson, Comes from the Either/Orchestra) and the dependable Garzone make a useful, gregarious front line, with their four horns alternated for piquant contrast; Tessarollo is impressive but sometimes predictably noisy. The subsequent live album is loser, less frenetic in its uptempo pieces, but sometimes dull: Garzone's attempted tone-poem, "Echoes of Rome”, is a washout. Peckham plays a more modulated role, and the leader plays with terrific propulsion without stealing too much limelight on both records. An interesting note on Boston's fertile and underappreciated jazz community.
