executing a lisp command as a hook

[mmuurr]

Hi all, I'm fairly new with emacs, so please bear with me if this is a
trivial question...

I have a hook variable that I'm trying to set.  It's a variable
included in the JDE (Java Development Environment) for Emacs, and the
goal is for me to be able to display some text in the echo area when I
switch from project to project between buffers.

There is a variable associated with each project called
jde-project-name.

When I jump to a new project, I simply want to be notified of this in
the echo area.

So I tried a simple elisp function:

(message jde-project-name)

This works when I execute the command from a scratch buffer using C-c
C-e, but if I include that command as is in the hook line (set using a
configure-variable interface) I get this is a response in the echo
area:

Invalid function: (message jde-project-name)

Can anyone tell me how to provide a way to call an elisp function from
a hook variable?

Thanks!