Mads Tolling Quartet

Sunday, August 14, 2011 | Bella Mia Stage | 6pm

“Remember when fusion music was underplayed rather than overblown, and jazz-rock pioneers Chick Corea and John McLaughlin reflected their appreciation of Miles Davis’ sense of dynamics?”  This is how James Hale of Downbeat Magazine characterized the most recent work of Mads Tolling. As if plumbing the avant-garde world of jazz violin pioneered by the likes of Jean-Luc Ponty weren’t original enough, Mads' latest project entails an exploration of the intersection between music and professional sports.  On that album, The Playmaker, is music dedicated to Tom Brady, retired French soccer player Zinedine Zidane and basketball's LeBron James. That it’s combined with a Led Zeppelin cover and Danish folk music, however, really begins to make clear the breadth of Mads' interests and ingenuity.

As violist with Turtle Island Quartet from 2003 to 2007 and now as violinist, Mads maintains an active touring and recording schedule along with composing and giving master classes. Mads grew up in Copenhagen and moved to the U.S. at the age of 20 to pursue jazz studies. He studied under violinist Matt Glaser and graduated summa cum laude from Berklee College of Music in Boston in 2003. While still attending Berklee, the renowned jazz violinist Jean-Luc Ponty recommended Mads to join Stanley Clarke’s band. Since then, he has performed more than 100 concerts with Clarke worldwide, including the Newport Jazz Festival and the Hollywood Bowl.

Mads won two Grammy awards for "Best Classical Crossover Album" with the recordings 4+Four and A Love Supreme – The Legacy of John Coltrane. Tolling has received Denmark’s Sankt Annae’s Award for Musical Excellence, the Berklee Elvin Jones Award as well as grants from Queen Margaret of Denmark. He has performed with Paquito d’Rivera, Kenny Barron, Joe Lovano, Sergio and Odair Assad & Leo Kottke.

madstolling.com
myspace.com/madstolling