Wes We Can

<p>&nbsp;</p> <p>My name is <em>Linus Olsson</em>, I&#39;m a guitarist and composer and I&#39;m about to record a new album!</p> <p style="text-align:center"><strong><em>My musical start </em></strong></p> <p>I started learning to play guitar when I was ten years old in Sweden, my home country, first classical guitar and then electric guitar to play rock. As a teenager I discovered jazz and also started to write my own tunes.</p> <p style="text-align:center"><em><strong>My first professional steps </strong></em></p> <p>In the 90s I started to play professionally in Sweden and also abroad. First in the Canary Islands where I took the opportunity to study Spanish. In fact, I discovered that apart from music, I also had a passion for languages, especially Latin languages! Back in Sweden I still wanted to move and went to work in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, the hometown of <em>Jaco Pastorius</em> and <em>Cannonball Adderley</em>.</p> <p style="text-align:center"><em><strong>France and the first album</strong></em></p> <p>In 1995 I arrived&nbsp;in Nice to study French. I quickly made contact with local musicians and decided to settle there. I resumed&nbsp;my musical studies at the Nice Conservatory and at the University. In the 2000s I became more and more interested in arranging and recorded my first album under my name, &quot;Naima&quot;, with a&nbsp;sextet with among others the trumpeter <em>Fran&ccedil;ois Chassagnite</em>.</p> <div class="k-ResponsiveIframeContainer"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowfullscreen="true" frameborder="0" height="281" scrolling="no" src="https://cdn.embedly.com/widgets/media.html?src=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fembed%2FvCydmzw_e2w%3Ffeature%3Doembed&amp;display_name=YouTube&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DvCydmzw_e2w&amp;image=https%3A%2F%2Fi.ytimg.com%2Fvi%2FvCydmzw_e2w%2Fhqdefault.jpg&amp;key=8b7d8dd6504d41af9a77662672aabc2a&amp;type=text%2Fhtml&amp;schema=youtube" title="YouTube embed" width="500"></iframe></div> <p style="text-align:center"><strong><em>The second album</em></strong></p> <p>I performed all over the French Riviera to Italy with many artists and groups and started recording regularly with different projects. In 2007, I started teaching at the Conservatories of Cagnes-sur-Mer and Valbonne. I recorded &quot;Hands Down&quot; in 2012, the second album as a leader with <em>Franck Amsallem</em> on piano, <em>Jean-Marc Jafet</em> on bass and <em>Nicolas Viccaro</em> on drums.</p> <div class="k-ResponsiveIframeContainer"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowfullscreen="true" frameborder="0" height="281" scrolling="no" src="https://cdn.embedly.com/widgets/media.html?src=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fembed%2FRI79Ch0ikmQ%3Ffeature%3Doembed&amp;display_name=YouTube&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DRI79Ch0ikmQ&amp;image=https%3A%2F%2Fi.ytimg.com%2Fvi%2FRI79Ch0ikmQ%2Fhqdefault.jpg&amp;key=8b7d8dd6504d41af9a77662672aabc2a&amp;type=text%2Fhtml&amp;schema=youtube" title="YouTube embed" width="500"></iframe></div> <p style="text-align:center"><em><strong>Sweden, France and Italy </strong></em></p> <p>I had the chance to bring together a &quot;European&quot; jazz quintet with trumpeter <em>Anders Bergcrantz</em>, saxophonist <em>Emanuele Cisi</em>, double bassist <em>Viktor Nyberg</em> and drummer <em>R&eacute;mi Vignolo</em> in 2014 for two concerts in Monaco. &quot;La Note Bleue Productions&quot;&nbsp;released&nbsp;a live album with&nbsp;this group in 2015, &quot;Dedication Blues&quot;.</p> <div class="k-ResponsiveIframeContainer"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowfullscreen="true" frameborder="0" height="281" scrolling="no" src="https://cdn.embedly.com/widgets/media.html?src=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fembed%2FYHqDbGVhIxo%3Ffeature%3Doembed&amp;display_name=YouTube&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DYHqDbGVhIxo&amp;image=https%3A%2F%2Fi.ytimg.com%2Fvi%2FYHqDbGVhIxo%2Fhqdefault.jpg&amp;key=8b7d8dd6504d41af9a77662672aabc2a&amp;type=text%2Fhtml&amp;schema=youtube" title="YouTube embed" width="500"></iframe></div> <p style="text-align:center"><strong><em>New challenges </em></strong></p> <p>From my perspective, it is by stepping out of your comfort zone and taking on challenges that you learn new things and move forward in life. I do this by sometimes soliciting musicians more experienced than myself and self-producing albums. As for my career in artistic education, in 2018 I accepted the proposal to become Director of the Conservatory in&nbsp;Cagnes-sur-Mer.</p> <p style="text-align:center"><strong><em>Broader horizons </em></strong></p> <p>Over the last years I have had the opportunity to play in Paris and New York with a lot of different really good musicians. Last November after two quartet concerts in Paris&nbsp;I thought to myself that it is time that I record a new album with my new compositions and I want to do it with these musicians!</p> <p style="text-align:center"><em><strong>My way of composing </strong></em></p> <p>Over time and experience I believe I have learned to focus more on the essential in my writing. A musician friend once told me that he felt my tunes&nbsp;&quot;play themselves.&quot; For me it&#39;s important that the musicians can express their personality and I also want to leave a lot of room for the interaction between the members of the band. This way, we have a good time on stage and we reach the audience who are there to have a good time&nbsp;with us and the music. For me that&rsquo;s the essence of jazz!</p> <p style="text-align:center"><em><strong>The repertoire of this project </strong></em></p> <p>This repertoire reflects many of my different musical inspirations, jazz, blues, bebop, Latin rhythms etc. There is for example a song called &ldquo;Wes We Can&rdquo; that I composed for Wes Montgomery, another that I wrote for John Scofield called &ldquo;Johnny B Sco&rdquo;, and nods to&nbsp;Brazilian music that I love!</p> <p style="text-align:center"><em><strong>The casting&nbsp;</strong></em></p> <p><em>St&eacute;phane Guillaume</em>&nbsp;is on tenor saxophone and flute, a musician overflowing with energy and creativity.</p> <p><img alt="" src="https://d3v4jsc54141g1.cloudfront.net/uploads/project_image/image/678502/st_phane_guillaume_master_conservatoire_174-1597392439.JPG" width="100%" /></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><em>Damien Argentieri</em> on the organ, with huge ears, a very solid team player.</p> <p><img alt="" src="https://d3v4jsc54141g1.cloudfront.net/uploads/project_image/image/678504/damien-1-1597392767.jpg" width="100%" /></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><em>Antoine Paganotti</em>, a very dynamic and musical drummer.</p> <p><img alt="" src="https://d3v4jsc54141g1.cloudfront.net/uploads/project_image/image/678505/antoinepaganotti-1597392794.jpg" width="100%" /></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p style="text-align:center"><strong><em>I need you! </em></strong></p> <p>I warmly invite you to participate in this project and this musical journey because I feel that with this team of musicians my music can evolve enormously and I need an album to present the project and&nbsp;find lots of great concerts!</p>