MADS TOLLING QUARTET (Danish)

Mads Tolling left Denmark to pursue studies in the U.S. in 2000. After ten years with little musical connection to his birthplace, he decided to start his Danish quartet in 2010 with violin, guitar, bass and drums.

The project really took off when well-established guitarist Jacob Fischer joined the quartet in 2014. Jacob is one of the highest regarded guitarists in Europe, and many compare him to the great Django Reinhardt. Jacob was for twenty years a member of the legendary Danish jazz violinist Svend Asmussen’s quartet. At age 14, Mads first saw Jacob – in concert with Svend in Copenhagen. About ten years later, Svend donated much of his private music collection to Mads, when he retired from playing music. When ‘The Fiddling Viking’ had his centennial birthday in 2016, it made a lot of sense for Mads to pay special tribute to him. The Mads Tolling Quartet extensive tours in 2015 and 2016 included Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Germany, and the album Celebrating Svend Asmussen was released around that time.

Besides the Asmussen related material the quartet plays an eclectic mix of originals and standards, including Danish and Swedish folk tunes. A new program is called Masters of Jazz Violin with music and arrangements by Stephane Grappelli, Jean-Luc Ponty, Stuff Smith and Joe Venuti. Since the quartet spans over two continents, the group likes to pay tribute to the rich music traditions in both Denmark and the US in The Danish-American Songbook.

Besides Mads and Jacob, Matthias Petri holds down the bass and Andreas Svendsen plays the drums in the quartet. The group has performed at the Copenhagen Jazz Festival, the Black Diamond Royal Library, Jazzhus Montmartre and at some of the top festivals, concert halls and noted jazz clubs in Scandinavia.

MADS TOLLING AND JACOB FISCHER

Mads Tolling and Jacob Fischer started playing as a duo in 2015, and realized the potential of the beautiful chamber jazz sound. At first the duo played around Scandinavia, but later Mads set up tours in the U.S. and Canada. In North America, the two have performed at many Scandinavian Cultural Organizations and Museums and have brought joy to expats, weaving together Danish folk songs and American Standards in a fun and moving program. Two duo tracks have been released, “Honeysuckle Rose” and “After You’ve Gone,” and Mads and Jacob keep coming up with originals and new arrangements to add to their set.