With his own remarkably versatile quartet (guitarist Mike Abraham, bassist George Ban-Weiss, drummer Eric Garland), the Danish violinist takes that crossover penchant to extremes on The Playmaker, incorporating rock-fueled fare by Radiohead (Just) and Led Zeppelin (Black Dog) along with the playfully idiosyncratic jazz of Thelonious Monk (Blue Monk) and the earthy funk of former James Brown sideman Pee Wee Ellis (The Chicken). But the centerpiece of this ambitious outing, Tollings second as a leader, is the highly eclectic Playmaker Suite, which features special guests Russell Ferrante of the Yellow Jackets on piano, Stanley Clarke on bass and Stefon Harris on vibraphones. Tolling explains that the term playmaker can apply to music as well as sports. In sports, the playmakers role is to facilitate his teammates, and in music its kind of the same thing. Its the guy who is trying to set his teammates up in terms of playing better solos and making it sound better as a band. Tracks: Just (Radiohead) / The Playmaker (For Tom Brady) / The Contemplator (For Zinedine Zidane) / The Risktaker / El Duderino / Starmaker Machinery (For John McLaughlin) / Loki in the Poke / I Skovens Dybe Stille Ro (For NHOP) / The Chicken (For Jaco Pastorius) / Blue Monk / Black Dog (Led Zeppelin)