I began composing in my early teens around the same time that I started to dream about a life in music. Since then, writing my own tunes has always felt like a natural part of being a musician to me. Over time and with experience I believe that I have learned to focus more on the essential in my writing. A musician friend once told me that my tunes seem to “play themselves.” For me it’s important to allow the musicians to express their personality and I also want to leave a lot of space for the interaction between the members ofthe band. This way, we enjoy ourselves on stage and we move the people in the audience who is there to have a good time with us and the music. For me that’s the essence of jazz!
Over the last years I have had the opportunity to work in Nice, Paris and New York
with a lot of different really good musicians. In November 2019 I played two concerts in Paris with Stéphane Guillaume, a saxophonist and flutiste overflowing with energy and creativity, Damien Argentieri, an organist with huge ears and a very solid team player and Antoine Paganotti, a really dynamic and musical drummer.There was such a great chemistry in the band that I thought to myself that it is time that I record a new album with my recent compositions and I want to do it with these musicians!
This repertoire reflects many of my different musical inspirations, jazz, blues, bebop, latin rhythms etc. There is the title track, “Wes We Can,” that I composed thinking about Wes Montgomery, another tune that Iwrote for John Scofield called “Johnny B Sco,” and nods to Brazilian music that I also love. I sincerely hope that you enjoy listening to this music just as much as me and my fellow musicians enjoy playing it!
—Linus Olsson, Nice, France, August 2021
