in the early 1980s, masakowski played regularly with local new orleans musicians such as earl turbinton, jr., alvin tyler, and willie tee. with singleton and drummer johnny vidacovich, he accompanied visiting musicians such as randy brecker, tom harrell, art baron, and dave liebman. he founded the group mars with larry sieberth (keyboards), james singleton (bass), and james black (drums). the band played a mixture of jazz and electronic music, sometimes combined with visual art created by jon graubarth. dave liebman played on the first mars album (1983).