This first recording of Mads Tolling is a suite of fresh sounding jazz music. He recognized by Bill Milkowski (regular contributor to Jazz Times) as among the fresh breed of musicians with classical training who crosses the boundary to jazz, and Mads has transitioned well with "The Playmaker". This title was aptly chosen as the role of the musicians on this recording is analogous to that of "the Playmaker" in a sports team who setups the other team members for a winning play. Mads Tolling is a native of Denmark who studied and graduated from the Berklee College of Music in 2003 with the distinction of Summa Cum Laude.
His professional career as a jazz musician started with the Turtle Island String Quartet, a San Francisco based band which is renowned for fusing diverse genres of music (Bluegrass, Classical music, funk, jazz, Latin and Indian Classical music) to jazz improvisations techniques. During this period, he was also part of Stanley Clarke's band. This rich experience had prepared him for this personal project. Mads is quoted in an interview that "Being in those groups has influenced me a lot."
He launches this recording, which traverses boundaries of traditional and modern jazz and classic rock, with Radiohead's "Just" and ends it with Led Zeppelin's "Black Dog". These 1st and last (11th) cuts act as bookends to his own compositions which range from the classically inspired, soft jazz of "El Duderino" to the fiery "Star-Maker Machinery". "Loki in the Pokey" (another Mads composition) is a Latin flavored song which references a Nordic god Loki the trickster. It begins with a light and lyrical folksy feel that trips to a Middle Eastern scale on the violin and banks hard to a Latin beat with an excellent set up for the guitar. .
The journey slows to a nostalgic pace with "I Skovens Dybe Stille Ro". It is touching that Mads shares his roots with his rendition of an "old old piece," (a song he use to sing as a kid every morning in school.) I researched the translation of the title to be "In the Forest Deep Pacific Ro". The journey picks up a funky pace with a tune made famous by Jaco, "The Chicken" (written by Pee Wee Ellis.) Musicians get a lot of fun play on that song. There are some nice intense solos with the guitar with a tasteful overdrive effect and a madly controlled drum and bass to go with it. The violin floats nicely over the smooth bump and grind of the band's rendition of "Blue Monk". There are overtones of Stéphane Grappelli in this one.
Mads composed a suite that he dedicated to three specific sportsmen. I am not cognizant of the reason, but the specific titles of the songs are probable hints of the mood of the music. The Playmaker Suite is a three piece that begins with a light and lyrical "The Playmaker" (dedicated to Tom Brady, New England Patriots quarterback); followed by moody "The Contemplator" (for Zinedine Zidane, a French footballer/soccer player); and finally to funky "The Risktaker (for LeBron James, American basketball player.) Mads shows some fine finesse with "The Risktaker" at the start of the song, and changes the beat to reggae feel. This song swings back and forth between these two different feel and it's really fun.
I recommend this CD for some serious listening. It's hard to accept it at face value, in my opinion, because there's a lot going on in the music. I think jazz violin has had its struggle for recognition, and Mads Tolling gives jazz violin a hopeful and vibrant placement in the collection with his heartfelt playing and musical talent in this recording.
The Playmakers on this album includes his quartet members: guitarist Mike Abraham, bassist George Ban-Weiss and drummer Eric Garland. His featured guests are: Stanley Clarke (bass); Russell Ferrante (pianists of the Yellow Jackets); Stefan Harris (vibraphones.) -----ANALYN REVILLA