Already somewhat of a star in his native Denmark, Mads Mathias is a vocalist/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, who has captured the hearts of music lovers with his charismatic performances, spirited personality and creative original songs. Inspired and influenced by the great jazz vocalists of the past and present from Nat King Cole and Frank Sinatra to Harry Connick Jr, and with a deep respec
t for the crooner tradition, Mathias is nevertheless an original talent with a unique and effortlessly charming vocal delivery and a skill for writing catchy and memorable, stylishly crafted tunes. His first release as a soloist, ‘Free Falling’, is a hugely ambitious project with contributions from twenty-five ‘hand-picked’ musicians in a mix of big band, strings and small group arrangements. Ten of the songs are originals by Mathias, who also performs saxophone, trumpet and piano alongside his vocals, with arrangements by himself and Peter Jensen. In Mathias’s words: “I decided early on not to compromise or use shortcuts and not let time or money dictate, but only to stop when I arrived at the sound I had in my head”. The resulting critically-acclaimed album is a set of entrancing songs with the feel of timeless swing-era classics, skillfully crafted into a seamless coherent whole, with Mathias’s vocals ranging from playful and humorous to the depth and vulnerability demonstrated on the final ballad ‘Colorblind’
“An international star in the making” – Gaffa
Mads Mathias grew up partly in his native town of Silkeborg, Denmark and partly in Tanzania, in a musical home with 34 instruments, which he explored from infancy. The saxophone became his main instrument, but at the age of 17 he injured his hand in a car accident, losing three fingers. Afraid that his playing days were over, he began to sing and write songs. Fortunately the rehabilitation of his hand enabled him to play the saxophone once again and he was accepted to study at the Copenhagen Rhythmic Music Conservatory, where he received a diploma in 2007. Besides fronting his own Orchestra and Quartet, Mathias appears regularly with the Six City Stompers, the Tivoli Big Band and the prestigious Danish Radio Big Band, and has performed in venues across the world from the DR Koncerthuset and Roskilde Festival in Denmark to the Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing. Free Falling’ won him a Danish Music Award for ‘Best New Danish Jazz Artist of the Year’ as well as a nomination for ‘Danish Vocal Release of year’. He also won an ‘Honorable Mention’ at the International Songwriting Competition for his song ‘Fool for Love’. The album has received extensive airplay on Danish radio stations DR P1, DR P4, P8 JAZZ and across Europe.
