Vermont’s Jamie Masefield has been pushing his musical ideas through his Jazz Mandolin Project since 1993. The project started as a monthly residency at a Burlington coffee house where the mandolin virtuoso would invite local jazz musicians up to play a few tunes with him. The idea was to improvise and let the music guide them. This grew into a solid 3-piece touring unit consisting of Jamie, drummer Gabe Jarrett (son of jazz legend Keith Jarrett), and bassist Stacey Starkweather. The group toured the U.S. and Europe and, in September of ’96, released the self-titled debut JMP album.
But at the conclusion of ’97, Jarrett and Starkweather left to work on other projects. So in the years since, the JMP has had the great fortune of having some of the finest musicians around join their ranks, sometimes for a show or two, often longer. Musicians like drummer Jon Fishman, bassist Chris Dahlgren, drummer Ari Hoenig, bassist Danton Boller, pianist Gil Goldstein, percussionist Chris Lovejoy, and drummer Greg Gonzalez, just to name a few.
Last year, while on tour, Masefield gathered video footage to use in his next big project, a multi-media adaptation of Russian writer Leo Tolstoy’s “How Much Land Does a Man Need?” This piece will make it’s debut at Burlington’s FlynnSpace Theater on April 8th and 9th.
Glide’s Joe Adler caught up with Masefield to speak about this exciting new project, it’s inspiration and relevance to modern society.
What was the inspiration behind your latest work, “How Much Land Does a Man Need?”
This is the result of wanting to do a multi-media project for years. [It’s] a combination of music and the video and classic literature. My challenge has been to create a program where the story is properly enhanced by the music and visuals without drawing too much attention to themselves. It’s a delicate balance that has been fascinating to deal with. It’s a modern interpretation of an old story and a whole new field of expression for me.
It’s very difficult to hold people’s attention with instrumental music. Instrumental music has never held a very large slice of the music industry pie. After spending 12 years on the road trying to put on a good show where the music was in the spotlight, now we’re getting to use it in a completely different way, which is really refreshing. I’m also a big fan of classic literature. My hope is that by adapting an old Russian tale with a modern treatment that people might be encouraged to read more Tolstoy. The name has always sounded so intimidating and stuffy to me, but once I read one short story I was hooked. I think its great stuff.
How does the Tolstoy story relate to our modern world?
Tolstoy had very strong feelings about what was true art, in fact he wrote a lengthy essay called “What is Art?” He felt that “true” art is universal, that people of different backgrounds, social status, age and geographic location would be affected by it despite their differences. He also felt that true art would transcend time and arch from generation to generation long after the creator was dead. I think this story “How Much Land Does a Man Need?” does that. The issue of mans greed for land is as relevant today as it was 120 years ago when he wrote it. I’ve been witnessing the drastic changes in our American landscape continuously while driving the highways getting to gigs. The story is about a man spurred on by the devil to acquire more and more land until he dies in the distant prairie. He moves further and further out to get a better situation, never being satisfied with what he has. In the end it kills him.
Back in 2005 when you were collecting video footage, did you foresee using it in this way or were you just documenting your own travels?
The only reason I purchased a video camera was for this specific project. I’m not one for documenting everything I do, this collection was done entirely for the purpose of telling a wonderful story. I was so dumb at video that literally, the first 3 minutes of shooting was black because I never thought to open the lens cap!
Who are the musicians in this latest incarnation of the Jazz Mandolin Project?
This project will be performed by Mad Dog (Mike Mavridoglou) on flugelhorn and synthesizer, Michael Obrien on upright bass and Sean Dixon on drums and myself on mandolin. Mad Dog lives in Cincinnati and has played an important multi-instrumentalist role in JMP for about four years now. Michael Obrien has just moved from Minneapolis to NYC and has toured for over a year with JMP and Sean Dixon, from NYC has also been with JMP for over a year. They are all great contributors and musicians.
Do you plan to perform this piece after it’s FlynnSpace debut?
I should mention that this project was made possible in part by a grant from the Vermont Art Council and the National Endowment for the Arts. After its premier I hope to perform it at music festivals, high schools and colleges, arts series at performing arts centers and to take it abroad if possible. However, it needs a proper setting to be preformed in, so it won’t be done in clubs. I would hope that people can get a lot out of seeing this. Obviously, they’ll learn about a wonderful story by Tolstoy, but also, it should speak about the American landscape, interpreting literature and the possibilities of music, video, the creative process and multi-media ventures
Have you been working on anything else?
To tell you the truth I have been completely immersed in this since November. I’ve learned a ton about grant writing, editing video with Final Cut Express and writing music on Sibelius and Finale. I’ve watched a lot of movies. Musically, I’ve been performing some great duo shows with Doug Perkins who I’ve been playing with for 16 years. We recently went down to Florida to perform which was a great change of weather.
