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Jazz Mandolin Project

Since 1993, Jamie Masefield's Jazz Mandolin Project has been offering an entirely new concept of what the mandolin can do. Pushing the boundaries with a new innovative sound, "JMP" has toured throughout the US and internationally with a unique approach that has changed the mind of many as to the instruments potential. In its latest ambitious chapter, it's exploring the realm of working in multiple mediums.

The name itself, The Jazz Mandolin Project suggests an ongoing experiment, and so it is that Masefield is currently steering his group away from the concert stage and moving it in front of a movie screen to shed light on classic literature and the ethics of Leo Tolstoy, (who has often received the title as the greatest storyteller in modern history). Unlike anything Masefield has done before, the quartet is now performing live, an original soundtrack score to a Russian story written 120 years ago... but with a modern American twist. Tolstoy's tale is of a man spurred on by the Devil to acquire more and more land, who ends up dying of exhaustion in distant lands from pure greed. The story takes on a modern context through the creative montage of video footage of American lifestyles and landscapes, collected and edited to follow the storyline by Masefield, while traversing the US on tour in 2005. The handheld video footage also gives a realistic keyhole view to the bumpy, fast life of a traveling musician. James Joyce said, How Much Land Does a Man Need? is the greatest story the world of literature knows.

JMP has recorded 6 albums. In 2000 they released Xenoblast, their major label debut on Blue Note Records, to critical acclaim. It's latest, The Deep Forbidden Lake, is an acoustic CD featuring 12 of leader, Jamie Masefield's favorite songs by his favorite musicians. He's accompanied by grammy winning pianist and accordian player, Gil Goldstein (Pat Metheny, Jaco Pastorius) and upright bassist Greg Cohen (Tom Waits, Ornette Coleman).

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121
Live Review

The Jazz Mandolin Project: Mixed Media, Mixed Messages

Read "The Jazz Mandolin Project: Mixed Media, Mixed Messages" reviewed by Doug Collette


The Jazz Mandolin Project FlynnSpace Burlington, Vermont April 8, 2006

Because Jamie Masefield's independence is matched only by his artistic integrity, it was perhaps inevitable that, after a decade of working on his Jazz Mandolin Project, he would venture into the realm of multimedia. The first of two nights at Burlington's intimate FlyynSpace found the Vermont native offering his presentation based on a Tolstoy short story with mixed results, but that's no reflection on ...

142
Album Review

Jazz Mandolin Project: The Deep Forbidden Lake

Read "The Deep Forbidden Lake" reviewed by John Kelman


While the Jazz Mandolin Project has been a collective of sorts in the past, with a revolving door membership that has included Phish guitarist Trey Anastasio and bassist Stacey Starkweather, it's really always been mandolin player Jamie Masefield's baby. And so, the Project's latest release, The Deep Forbidden Lake, is essentially a Jamie Masefield solo effort, with pianist/accordionist Gil Goldstein and bassist Greg Cohen sitting in as guests.

Whereas earlier JMP releases were sometimes lumped in with jam bands like ...

302
Album Review

The Jazz Mandolin Project: The Deep Forbidden Lake

Read "The Deep Forbidden Lake" reviewed by Doug Collette


The Deep Forbidden Lake is not by any means a return to roots for the Jazz Mandolin Project, since Jamie Masefield's very first albums under the JMP moniker were with three-man lineups including drums. This new effort is rather a distillation of his ideas, a sort of folk-chamber music in which he, bassist Greg Cohen, and keyboardist Gil Goldstein explore the nuances of melody provided by a wide selection of compositions, the breadth of which clearly illustrates Jamie's eclectic taste ...

305
Album Review

The Jazz Mandolin Project: Jungle Tango

Read "Jungle Tango" reviewed by Farrell Lowe


The Jazz Mandolin Project may be touted as a cutting-edge band exploring new instrumentation and sonorities, but after listening to their new album Jungle Tango several times over the last three weeks, I don't hear it. What I do hear is an ensemble with inspired interplay, all fine players, and yes, there is a mandolinist--band founder Jamie Masefield--in the group.

The band is based around a nucleus of acoustic bass, drums, and mandolin with additional contributions by Gil ...

151
Album Review

Jazz Mandolin Project: Jazz Mandolin Project

Read "Jazz Mandolin Project" reviewed by AAJ Staff


I must admit that, when I first received this album, I thought to myself, “Jazz Mandolin?! WHAT?!" That they were from the “very exciting Burlington, VT music scene" made me all the more querulous. If The Project is any indication, however, I may be on my way to Burlington very soon, for when I eventually relented and listened to the album, I was pleasantly surprised! This was not the solo to “Maggie May" or even the backing basis of “Mandolin ...

124
Album Review

The Jazz Mandolin Project: Xenoblast

Read "Xenoblast" reviewed by David Adler


The Jazz Mandolin Project may now have this major label debut under its belt, but in various incarnations, the unconventional trio has been touring and recording since 1993. With the current jam band craze, and the legitimacy the genre is gaining in the jazz world, it is finally the right moment for leader/mandolinist Jamie Masefield’s quirky musical worldview. The opening title track on Xenoblast zips along with a compelling, kaleidoscopic synthesis of funk, progressive rock, “new acoustic" music, and jazz. ...

134
Album Review

the Jazz Mandolin Project: Xenoblast

Read "Xenoblast" reviewed by Rob Evanoff


The Jazz Mandolin Project? Mandolin and Jazz? Jazz played by a Mandolin? Throw your preconceptions out the window and open up your ears to experience a Xenoblast through time. The Jazz Mandolin Project, who are at home at the Bell Atlantic Jazz Festival or a Jamband Festival such as the Berkshire Mountain Music Fest, return with opus numero three ready to dispense their eclectic blend of jazz, classical, rock and drum n bass on the uninitiated. Did I say jazz, ...

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88

Interview

Jazz Mandolin Project's Jamie Masefield Interviewed at AAJ

Jazz Mandolin Project's Jamie Masefield Interviewed at AAJ

Source: All About Jazz

Mandolinist Jamie Masefield has been the man behind the Jazz Mandolin Project since inception, a group that's seen a host of musicians come through its doors in its 10-year existence.

Following the release of Xenoblast (Blue Note, 2000), which gave the group its biggest push into the limelight, Masefield returned to the independent label scene, releasing a number of fine albums, including last year's The Deep Forbidden Lake (Lenapee, 2005).

AAJ contributor Doug Collette caught up with Masefield during his ...

114

Recording

The Jazz Mandolin Project - Releases The Deep Forbidden Lake

The Jazz Mandolin Project - Releases The Deep Forbidden Lake

Source: All About Jazz

The Jazz Mandolin Project, Featuring Jamie Masefield Releases 6th Studio Album, THE DEEP FORBIDDEN LAKE

In a surprising shift of gears from the Jazz Mandolin Project's last album, Jungle Tango (2003), (laden with jungle grooves and improvisation), Jamie Masefield heads in a fresh, acoustic direction in his next upcoming release. The Deep Forbidden Lake is a friendly collection of 12 of some of Masefield's favorite songs written by some of his favorite musicians.

Is it a jazz album? ...

117

Music Industry

BLUE NOTE RECORDS Presents The JAZZ MANDOLIN PROJECT, CHARLIE HUNTER and special guest SOULIVE

BLUE NOTE RECORDS Presents The JAZZ MANDOLIN PROJECT, CHARLIE HUNTER and special guest SOULIVE

Source: All About Jazz

Three very different musical entities from the Blue Note Records stable will embark on a joint tour of the Southeast in November. The Jazz Mandolin Project, Charlie Hunter and new label signing Soulive have all been embraced by the “jamband" crowd and the uninitiated may wonder why these seemingly disparate jazz-oriented artists would be embraced by fans weaned on the likes of the Grateful Dead and Phish. The common denominator to these three outfits is their commitment to the groove, ...

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Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

The Deep Forbidden...

Lenapee Records
2005

buy

Jazz Mandolin Project

Unknown label
2003

buy

Jungle Tango

Lenapee Records
2003

buy

Xenoblast

Blue Note Records
2000

buy

Tour de Flux

Accurate Records
1999

buy

Jazz Mandolin Project

Lipstick Records
1996

buy

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