LIVE at Piedmont Piano Company
Mads Tolling & John R. Burr
Ramblin’
Two-time Grammy Award-winning violinist Mads Tolling and pianist John R. Burr met 10 years ago, and the two have become fast friends – this year releasing their debut album Ramblin’. With a set list that includes fresh takes on music by Toto, John McLaughlin, and Victor Young, Mads and John take the listener on a captivating musical journey filled with rich improvisations and heartfelt interplay.
$25 General Admission
We are offering a limited number of tickets to attend this performance in person. Advance purchase is required. COVID-19 SAFETY: Masking is recommended but no longer required.
MADS TOLLING
Mads Tolling is an internationally renowned violinist and composer originally from Copenhagen, Denmark, now living in San Francisco. As a former nine-year member of both bassist Stanley Clarke’s band and the celebrated Turtle Island Quartet, Mads won two Grammy Awards, and he was nominated for a third Grammy in 2015. He was the 2016 winner of the DownBeat Critics Poll Rising Star Violin Award. Mads has performed with Chick Corea, Ramsey Lewis, Kenny Barron, Paquito D’Rivera, Leo Kottke and Sergio & Odair Assad. Mads is a current member of Bob Weir & Wolf Bros/Wolfpack Band.
After graduating Berklee College of Music in 2003, he was recommended by Jean-Luc Ponty to join Stanley Clarke’s band. He has since been featured on NPR’s Morning Edition, and his recordings have received rave reviews in Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, Strings Magazine and DownBeat Magazine. Since 2020, Mads has been a member of Bob Weir & Wolf Bros/Wolfpack with tours across the US, including at Red Rocks, The Greek Theatre and Radio City Music Hall. He is featured on Weir’s albums Live in Colorado Vol 1 & 2 and Ace 50th Anniversary.
Mads has twice been commissioned to write violin concertos – for Oakland Symphony and Pacific Chamber Orchestra – which he has performed internationally. Mads now leads his own groups – Mads Tolling Quartet and Mads Tolling & The Mads Men. madstolling.com
JOHN R. BURR
John R. Burr is that rare pianist who combines jazz technique with a genuine love for folk music. The Philadelphia Weekly said, “Pianist extraordinaire John R. Burr has the most sparkling style since former Allman Brother-turned-Rolling Stone hired hand Chuck Leavell.” Discology wrote, “John R. Burr ranks with the best of the elegant jazzers.”
Years of touring and recording sessions with such artists as Maria Muldaur, The Alison Brown Quartet, Paul McCandless, Michael Manring, and Kathy Kallick, and recognition including a feature spot on Windham Hill’s Piano Sampler II are a testament of his talent.
Living in the San Francisco area, John R found himself at OTR Studios often recording on other people’s albums. There he met Cookie Marenco, the engineer on those sessions. When Cookie founded Blue Coast Records, she knew it was a matter of time before John R had a recording under his own name. The first solo piano album of many to come is called Quarter Tones and displays John R’ intimate relationship with the piano.
His playing is as likely to be inspired by James Taylor or Doctor John as by Oscar Peterson or the Yellowjackets although he says it is his love of folk music that has influenced him most. compassrecords.com/artist/john-r-burr