The Jazz Mandolin Project

 (3 customer reviews)

I was attracted to this by a playing of "The Country Open" on the "Fine Tuning" XM radio show. Mostly peppy tunes with nice percussion propulsion. Shades of New Age and David Grisman's Dawg Jazz. The material here often reminds me of Sam Bush's albums. Unfortunately without his great vocals but still stands well on its own. (PS the Fine Tuning channel can best be described as exponentially eclectic - David Bowie, then Andrea Bocelli, then some blues, etc., etc)

Despite a few genuinely lovely moments, I only gave Jazz Mandolin Project two stars. Jazz at its best lays bare the soul of the instrument. This cd utterly failed to do that. List of other complaints: 1) use of an electric mandolin on some songs, 2) very little tremolo, 3) inclusion of live versions of two songs already included as studio recordings, 4) at times too noisy, 5) most of the loveliest moments almost too quiet to hear. This is my least favorite of my nine mandolin cds, and perhaps my least favorite jazz cd as well.

Reminds me quite a lot of Phish at times. Which could be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on your point of view. It's a Vermont thing, I guess.