Mads Tolling: A Cool Yule

Since moving to the United States from his native Denmark at the turn of the century, violinist Mads Tolling has blazed a brilliant path across the jazz landscape. Hired by bass legend and NEA Jazz Master Stanley Clarke straight out of Berklee (after graduating Summa Cum Laude), he relocated to the Bay Area when he joined Turtle Island Quartet, which won two GRAMMY Awards during his tenure.  

Tolling went on to release a series of acclaimed albums as a leader, while also pursuing projects like the collective SF String Trio with guitarist Mimi Fox and bassist Jeff Denson. In recent years he’s spent a good deal of time on the road with the Grateful Dead’s Bob Weir and the Wolf Bros. 

Throughout all the different projects he’s kept his Danish heritage in sight, and his Nordic Holiday Celebration is a jazz-charged sojourn into the sweetest part of childhood. With arrangements of traditional Yuletide standards from Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, and Iceland, he captures the mysticism, customs and sounds of the Nordic countries along with the joy and soul of American jazz. Cool Yule includes a nod to Denmark’s most famous fairytale author Hans Christian Andersen with a medley of songs from Frozen and other fables.