Jazz Mandolin Project

Iron Horse

Tonight

$12.50 in advance, $15 at the door,

8:30 p.m.

Finals got you down? Need some assistance in shaking down those end-of-semester blues? Plant yourself on the floor of the Iron Horse tonight and enjoy a generous helping of the Jazz Mandolin Project’s patented feel-good stew.

Their soulful blend of bluegrass, nasty funk and, of course, jazz, is known to extend toward trance and even drum n’ bass; the scope of their sound is tremendous, sophisticated and danceable.

To tour behind the group’s 2003 release, “Jungle Tango,” mandolin virtuoso and bandleader Jamie Masefield has assembled a mammoth quartet, greased and ready to bring the Project’s trademark genre-bending prowess to the people. Dan Weiss on drums, Scott Ritchie on upright bass, and Mike “Mad Dog” Mavridoglou (formerly of Ray’s Music Exchange) on trumpet and keyboards round out what Masefield usually arranges as a trio.

But don’t let the presence of a trumpet or an upright bass fool you; this is not your parents’ jazz. Sandwiched between Project classics such as “The Country Open” and “Oh Yeah!” or jazz staples the like of Miles Davis’ “Milestones” and Weather Report’s “Black Market,” you might find Jimi Hendrix’s “Third Stone from the Sun” or Black Sabbath’s “War Pigs.” Masefield’s Jazz Mandolin Project is dynamic, hugely talented and above all, fun.

And beginning in January, the Project will bring on huge talent (and regular collaborator) drummer Jon Fishman, of Phish. Fishman, fresh from his own group’s four-date New Year’s run in Miami, will accompany Masefield and his rotating cast of characters for a slew of opening dates with fellow Phish-man Page McConnell’s Vida Blue (an additional six dates with Fishman will follow the Vida Blue run).

So if you need a breath of fresh air, or in this case, the hip ambience of an intimate venue, pick your head up out of your books and get yourself down to the Iron Horse tonight for a whole mess of the Jazz Mandolin Project’s explosive, improvisational brew. Tickets are $12.50 in advance and $15 at the door; show time is 8:30 p.m.

– Bradley Farberman