Lello Molinari, 2001 June 13
Bass player and professor in Berklee College of Music’s Ensemble department Lello Molinari compares his experiences studying at Berklee and the New England Conservatory and the impact of his instructors’ teaching philosophies. He describes growing up in Naples, Italy, becoming a self-taught bass player as a teenager, and his early performance and recording experiences in Milan. He discusses studying under Berklee professors Hal Crook and Tony Lada and NEC professor Ran Blake; musical influences, including the Fringe and Thelonious Monk; and past and current music projects, including 3Play+, The Unit, Either/Orchestra, and the Dave Holland Ensemble. He describes his approach to ensemble playing and shares about playing with Bob Moses, Bobby Ward. Molinari also comments on the Boston jazz scene, particularly the city’s limitations that deincentivize today’s audiences to attend performances.
Bassist and educator Lello Molinari (1962- ) was raised in Naples, Italy and taught himself the bass guitar as a teenager. At age twenty, Molinari moved to Milan and studied classical upright bass at the Scuola Civica di Sesto San Giovanni for three years before joining his first jazz band, Italian Vocal Ensemble, which won the 1985 Coppa del Jazz competition and led to his first recording contract with Red Records in 1986. That same year, Molinari moved to Boston to study jazz at Berklee College of Music, earning his bachelor’s degree in 1989. He was awarded a scholarship by the Boston Jazz Society in 1990, and in 1991 received his master’s from the New England Conservatory of Music. Molinari joined the faculty of Berklee College of Music’s Ensemble department in 1997. He has been the leader of the Lello Molinari Quintet, principal bassist of the Melrose Symphony Orchestra, and the co-leader of 3Play.
