Biography
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, The Jazz Mandolin Project has toured throughout the US and internationally with a unique approach. In its latest 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 (1828-1910).
Unlike anything Masefield has done before, the quartet now undertakes the challenge of performing live, an original soundtrack score to a Russian story written 120 years ago...but with a modern American treatment.
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 by the inclusion of video footage of American lifestyles and landscapes, edited to follow the storyline. While traversing the US on tour throughout 2005, Masefield collected relevant footage with a handheld video camera that also gives a realistic keyhole view to the bumpy, fast life of a traveling musician.
James Joyce once said, "How Much Land Does A Man Need?" is the greatest story the world of literature knows.
Instrumentation
Jamie Masefield and guests!
Discography
Deep Forbidden Lake (2005)
Jungle Tango (2003)
After Dinner Jams (2001)
Xenoblast (2000)
Tour De Flux (1999)
Jazz Mandolin Project (1996)
Links
| http://www.jazzmandolinproject.com |