Jazz Articles about Mads Tolling

About Mads Tolling

Album Review

Carlos Henrique Pereira: Northern Readings

Read "Northern Readings" reviewed by Pierre Giroux

by Pierre Giroux
June 7, 2026

Brazilian composer, pianist, and guitarist Carlos Henrique Pereira's release Northern Readings is a quietly remarkable recording that unfolds less like a collection of tracks than a carefully stitched memoir in sound. Grounded in the heritage of Brazil's Minas Gerais State, the album brings together a complementary blend of traditions, with the patience and honesty Pereira shows in allowing them to converse naturally. The ensemble itself sets the tone. Pereira alternates between piano and a nylon-stringed acoustic guitar. He is joined ...

Album Review

Daggerboard: The Skipper and Mike Clark

Read "The Skipper and Mike Clark" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
March 31, 2026

The rhythm section--more specifically, bassist Henry “The Skipper" Franklin and drummer Mike Clark--is front and center on the fourth recording by San Francisco Bay-area Daggerboard, the brainchild of trumpeter Erik Jekabson and percussionist Gregory Howe, who have enlisted a large array of supporting actors to help refine and sharpen their unique musical vision. That includes a four-member string section on three of the album's ten numbers, two of which ("Tanzanian Skies," the closing “Ruaha Daybreak") were written by ...

Radio & Podcasts

Mads Tolling: Nordic Folklore Meets American Jazz

by Steven Roby
December 2, 2025

This week on Backstage Bay Area, host Steve Roby welcomes two-time Grammy Award-winning violinist Mads Tolling. Known for his work with the Turtle Island Quartet, Stanley Clarke, and Bob Weir, Mads is shifting gears this season to share a piece of his Danish childhood in San Francisco. Mads takes us inside his project, Cool Yule: A Nordic Holiday Celebration, a “love letter" to his upbringing in Copenhagen. We explore the concept of “hygge," compare the structured traditions of ...

Radio & Podcasts

Mads Tolling: Jazz Collaborations and Classics Reimagined

by Steven Roby
January 11, 2025

When two-time Grammy-winning violinist Mads Tolling picks up his bow, magic happens. From reinterpreting classics like The Beatles' “Blackbird" to crafting soul-stirring arrangements of “What a Wonderful World" with the iconic Kenny Washington, Mads continues to redefine the boundaries of jazz and classical fusion. In the latest episode of Backstage Bay Area, Tolling delves into his career, his unique collaborations with John R. Burr and Kenny Washington, and what audiences can expect at their upcoming show at the ...

Album Review

Bob Weir: Ace - 50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition (2CD)

Read "Ace - 50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition (2CD)" reviewed by Doug Collette

by Doug Collette
January 29, 2023

Befitting its heady milestone date, the title of Bob Weir's initial solo album, Ace, carries multiple meanings. First of all, it was the Grateful Dead guitarist, vocalist & songwriter's nickname at the time of its gestation and completion (his bawdy persona as such mirrored in the ultra-suave pose on the inside photo as well as the risque cover art). More importantly, the album's name is also a reflection of the gambling lore so prevalent in songs of the ...

Album Review

Daggerboard & The Skipper: Daggerboard And the Skipper

Read "Daggerboard And the Skipper" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
March 16, 2022

For those who think they can tell an album's sound by its cover, think again in the case of Daggerboard and The Skipper. That cover art seems to have come from the walls of an inner sanctum of a Pre-Columbian pyramid. So what kind of music will that be? It is hard to find information on this release. Daggerboard seems to consist of the workings of percussionist/songwriter Gregory Howe and trumpeter/flugelhornist/songwriter Erik Jekabson, of Throttle Elevator Music fame, ...

Album Review

Zeena Quinn: Going My Way

Read "Going My Way" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
August 20, 2020

With so many singers these days competing to tempt the ears of an ever-shrinking jazz audience, success often rests not only on the talents of the vocalist but on the songs he or she chooses to interpret. On Going My Way, San Francisco-based vocalist Zeena Quinn puts her best foot forward on the opening numbers, “Lover" and “So in Love" (it's hard to go astray with Rodgers and Hart or Cole Porter) but it takes her quite a while to ...