Staffan William-Olsson

Staffan William-Olsson (born 13 December 1959) is a Swedish jazz guitarist in the band The Real Thing who has worked with Bob Berg, Lee Konitz, and Palle Mikkelborg.

Career He played piano, guitar and drums already at the age of 7, and studied classical piano with a jazz-oriented teacher. Eventually he was oriented towards the guitar, with the blues and rock music as main sources of influence (Jimi Hendrix, Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin as main models).

When he discovered jazz-rock, Weather Report, John McLaughlin and Allan Holdsworth among others became the new sources of inspiration. George Benson's record Bad Benson was a turning point, it opened up his ears for the clean, undistorted guitar sound, and guitarists like Pat Martino was a great influence.

William-Olsson was after classical piano studies at Göteborg Musikhögskola (he is autodidact guitarist), the replacement for Ulf Wakenius in the Swedish fusion band Hawk on Flight, and also collaborated with such as Bob Berg, Lee Konitz and Palle Mikkelborg.

The Real Thing was established in 1992. The solo albums Three Shades of Blue (1995) and Smile! (1998), was bouth nominated for the Spellemannprisen. Thereafter he has released two more albums, Oak Road Boogaloo (2000) and Pop! (2002). William-Olsson started the mini big band "Sharp 9" in 2005, inspired by the likes of Art Pepper and Miles Davis. Within "Sharp 9" he released NO:Network (2004) and Sudoku (2007).

Discography

Solo 1995: Three Shades of Blue (Real Records) 1998: Smile! (Real Music Records) 2000: Oak Road Boogaloo (Real Music Records) 2002: Pop! (Real Music Records)

Collaborations With The Real Thing 1992: The Real Thing (Real Music Records) 1993: ...in New York (Real Music Records), feat. Lew Soloff produced by Georg "Jojje" Wadenius, and nominated for the Spellemannprisen 1994 1994: A Perfect Match (Real Music Records), with Bohuslän Big Band, arranged and produced by the Los Angeles-based arranger Tom Kubis 1995: Live (Real Music Records) 1997: Pleasure is an Attitude (Real Music Records) 2000: Deluxe (Real Music Records), with Even Kruse Skatrud and the Norwegian Radio Orchestra 2003: New Wrapping (Real Music Records) 2006: A Real Christmas (Real Music Records), feat. Sigrid Brennhaug on vocal

With Terje Gewelt 2013: Steppingstone (Resonant Music), including with Adam Nussbaum

With Sharp 9 2004: NO:Network (Real Music Records) 2007: Sudoku (Real Music Records)