The Vermont-based band, challenging all notions of what the mandolin can do, pushes the envelope in bringing a traditionally folk instrument to the jazz platform. Internationally acclaimed with a fan base that extends from coast to coast, this unique power trio continues to build momentum with its mixed bag of music and adventurous, cutting-edge style.
With their most recent CD, Xenoblast, released last year, jazz lovers have a chance to experience what has brought legions of "jam band" fans into the Jazz Mandolin Project fold‹music that is at once new and different, challenging and exhilarating, traversing genres with a blending of eclectic influences.
"I've been focusing a bit of time working on composition," says mandolinist and front man for the band, Jamie Masefield. "We take a highly unorthodox approach to an instrument that is steeped in a very specific tradition. I've been focusing a lot more on jazz and also classical music in my writing now. It's very contrapuntal stuff, like a three-way conversation."
Musicians joining Masefield are New Yorkers Chris Dahlgren on bass and Ari Hoenig on drums. Together the trio puts a premium on stretching while still embracing the groove. Their music is a potent combination that appeals to both head and feet.
Tickets are available by calling HACC's Box Office in the Rose Lehrman Arts Center at (717) 231-ROSE, Monday through Friday, 10am to 3pm or visit Custom Blends in York or Gettysburg. Cost is $12 for students and $15 for non-students.
