The Jazz Mandolin Project from Summit Fest

The piercing shriek of the mandolin on stage could be heard echoing through the maze of cars and human traffic and onto all points of the festival grounds. It had captivated my attention enough to make me venture towards the stage midway through the Jazz Mandolin Project’s Saturday performance. The first impression that this trio gave me was they were too small a line-up to be deserving of the title “project.” The project was comprised of Jamie Mansfield on the mandolin, Chris Dahlgren on an upright bass, and guest Jon Fishman sitting behind the drum kit.

I easily made my way through the crowd until I stopped at the rail. On stage, almost fifteen yards away from me, the band way grooving through Open Sesame. At several points I made eye contact with the Bassist Dahlgren and Fishman. The drummer from Phish, and master of the vacuum, was holding the rhythm with an ear-to-ear grin on his face.

Any premonitions that these guys were going to be spewing ultra blue-grass was quickly put to rest. Instead, their high-tempo music belonged in a category all its own. Mansfield mastered the mandolin in such a unique way that it led me to believe there was a mysterious horn-section or hammered dulcimer being played in secret. After their instrumental sprint was finished, Mansfield paused and told the crowd “this song is called Zeno Blast.” Something in their collection of acoustical riffs created an ultra-sonic feel. He then finished by proclaiming why they call it Zeno blast. I was thoroughly impressed with the range of abilities displayed by the bassist particularly. During some songs he adopted the demeanor of a 1950’s lounge cat plucking the long strings. On others he played so formally that it may have been easy for one to mistake him with a member of a philharmonic orchestra.

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