Vermont Mandolin Trio

Description

The Vermont Mandolin Trio, comprised of Grammy-nominated Matt Flinner, Jamie Masefield, and Will Patton, will join Town Hall Theater’s Wintertide Music Series on Friday, March 27, with a sound that will be entirely new to most listeners. The three mandolinists, who will be accompanied by bass player Pat Melvin, have developed a style that falls somewhere on the intersection of Bluegrass, Roots, and Jazz, making for a unique genre of upbeat and often improvisational music. 

Masefield, Patton, and Flinner come from drastically different musical backgrounds, each of which can be heard in what has become their shared sound. Masefield’s origin is in traditional New Orleans Jazz. Between 1996 and 2006, Masefield toured the country with his group, the Jazz Mandolin Project. Today, mandolin is oftentimes more associated with bluegrass and Appalachia but of course it’s a key component of Jazz as well and Masefield reminds his audience of this with his lively and captivating Jazz sound. Besides touring his music, Masefield is also a dry stone mason living in Monkton, VT and his projects can be seen all around the northeast. 

Patton started on the piano as a child but took up strings in his teenage years, quickly playing for a range of genres: folk, bluegrass, jazz. He graduated from Middlebury College having found a deep connection to the green mountains. Despite this love for Vermont, Patton has traveled far during his music career, gaining influence from time spent in Brazil, the Caribbean, and Paris. He has collaborated many times with Parisian guitarist Ninine Garcia winning this dynamic duo critical acclaim both at home and abroad.
 
Grammy-nominated Flinner has been playing banjo and mandolin from the start and dedicated himself to Bluegrass from a young age. Living in Ripton, VT, Flinner has spent the last several decades of his life touring with the Matt Flinner Trio and the Modern Mandolin quartet. He also writes musical compositions, some of which have been performed by the Ying Quartet and the Nashville Chamber Orchestra. 

The Vermont Mandolin Trio will be an exciting spectacle of music, sure to bring something new to audiences’ ears.