It's tempting to ponder the motivations behind the Jazz Mandolin Project's continuing association with superstar jam band Phish. After all, there could be worse routes to career advancement than the adulation of the neo-Dead horde, typically more liberal in their openness to new sounds than other young listeners, and not coincidentally rabidly loyal to their most favored artists. Phish drummer Jon Fishman was on board for 1998's engaging live disc Tour de Flux on Accurate, the success of which doubtless helped seal the deal with Blue Note. And Phish six-stringer Trey Anastasio sits in on "Hang Ten," the giddy surf-influenced jam that closes out Xenoblast, the JMP's third disc.

Hear JMP leader Jamie Masefield's imaginative, genre-busting approach to playing mandolin, though, for a few minutes, and the Phish connection - even aside from the shared Vermont roots and a bent for spontaneity - makes perfect sense: What creative, improvisation-minded musician wouldn't want to spend time at play in the fields of these ambitious, unclassifiable compositions? Masefield, virtuoso bassist Chris Dahlgren and drummer Ari Hoenig may constitute the world's most creative and most unusual power trio.

Acoustic-electric funk is at the heart of the disc's most urgent tunes, including the effects-spiked title track, the second half of "Double Agent" and portions of "Igor," named for its references to Stravinsky. Celtic folk informs the bouncy melody at the start of "The Milliken Way," which takes its sweet time building to a majestic climax, and "Spiders" amounts to a playful group conversation.

The trio shifts down to quiet balladry on the pensive "Jovan," and the always resourceful Hoenig undergirds "Dromedary" with a series of martial figures, later changing things up with an infectious backbeat. The three go unplugged on "Shaker Hill," portions of which call to mind Pat Metheny, circa the mid-'80s. It's just about the only moment on the disc that doesn't come off sounding utterly original. How many projects could you say that about?
- PHILIP BOOTH

(This review originally appeared in Down Beat. The magazine is available online at http://www.downbeatjazz.com)