Who We Are Viktoria Tolstoy & Jacob Karlzon

• 1 Satellites 05:02
• 2 Who We Are 06:05
• 3 And So It Goes 03:54
• 4 Cloud on My Tongue 04:33
• 5 The Great Escape 05:09
• 6 Off-White 07:30
• 7 Trigger Warning 05:50
• 8 Stay 05:28
• 9 Fallen Empire 05:41
• 10 Let There Be Love 05:40
• 11 True Love Waits 04:26
• Total Runtime 59:18

Info for Who We Are

Vocalist Viktoria Tolstoy and pianist/keyboard player Jacob Karlzon have worked together as close musical companions and friends for nearly three decades. So, when they choose to call their album Who We Are, it is far more than just an album title: they are making a statement. What they are offering is a kind of musical self-portrait. They are aggregating and celebrating their shared experience and their mutual trust. Theirs is the kind of artistic language which only emerges after two people have been resonating on the same frequency for years. This duo’s journey began in the mid-1990s during one of Tolstoy’s UK tours. Since then they have performed together again and again, recorded six albums together, including Letter To Herbie (2011), a homage to Herbie Hancock, an idol for both of them, and A Moment of Now (2013) the first of their widely acclaimed duo recordings.

Viktoria Tolstoy and Jacob Karlzon’s close collaboration has reached the point where their story is no longer something they keep on needing to reinvent – these days they can simply tell it. Tolstoy describes in their interplay they have all the benefit of freedom, while also feeling completely secure: “What we do as a duo is really demanding – but it feels effortless. Jacob speaks my language completely; we follow and complement each other in a magical way.” This strong connection enables the duo to take constant risks, both in the studio and on stage – an essential part of who they are. Karlzon experiences this bond similarly: “Between Viktoria and me, there is no division between soloist and accompanist; we are simply two kindred spirits and we work on a completely equal footing.” This close communication forms the basis of the album – and perhaps the most precise answer to the title: Who We Are is that is a state of being. A mutual understanding. An authentic musical expression of “We”.

Karlzon uses a vivid metaphor to help explain this phenomenon. He notes that the songwriters whose work the duo interprets – Billy Joel, Tori Amos, Thom Yorke – are artists who both sing and play the piano. “In a way, that’s exactly what we are trying to do – except we do it as two people. Two individuals, but one musical organism.” This idea – finding expression which is two-voiced but also unified – runs like a uniting thread through the entire production. Who We Are often sounds on a bigger scale than a duo because Tolstoy’s soul-infused jazz vocals and Karlzon’s energetic, harmonically wide-ranging playing do not merely complement each other – they merge.

Alongside distinctive interpretations of songs by iconic songwriters, Who We Are also features a number of original compositions by Jacob Karlzon. On this occasion, and for the first time he has contributed not just the music but also written all the lyrics. Tolstoy, remembers being both surprised and deeply moved when she witnessed Karlzon taking this step: “After I’d received the music, suddenly lyrics for one song after another would begin landing in my inbox – and I was completely lost for words, they were so good!” Karlzon describes the writing process as a return to what he feels is at the root of all art: it’s not about a concept or aiming for commercial viability, but all about being truthful. The lyrics reflect personal experiences as well as observations – a patchwork that nonetheless carries a clear sense of purpose. Tolstoy, in turn, transforms these songs into her own stories. Because she knows Karlzon so well, as she says: “These are words that I can feel. Because I know exactly where they come from.”

Who We Are is a mature, warm, and self-assured album by two artists who know each other in all their complexity – and through that, have found the kind of freedom that is increasingly rare. They have produced a collection of work which isn’t trying to explain who they might like to be; it lets us understand who they truly are.

Who We Are ist ein reifes, warmes, in sich ruhendes Album zweier Künstler, die einander in ihrer ganzen Komplexität kennen – und darin eine Form von Freiheit gefunden haben, die selten geworden ist. Ein Werk, das nicht erklärt, wer sie sein möchten, sondern wer sie wirklich sind.

Viktoria Tolstoy , vocals
Jacob Karlzon, piano, keyboards, programming

Recorded at Musikaliska Kvarteret, Stockholm, August 25 & 26, 2025, by Lars Nilsson
Additional recordings at ChassRoom
Mixed and mastered at Nilento Studio by Lars Nilsson
Nilento team: Lars Nilsson, Michael Dalvid, and Jenny Nilsson
Produced by Jacob Karlzon & Lars Nilsson

Viktoria Tolstoy
is a highly celebrated and respected international jazz vocalist and her numerous success stories are all a product of this explosive natural supertalent. Viktoria has never taken a single singing class thus she also owns that little perfect difference that delivers her clearly strong and wonderfully untamed, vibrant sound. She'll capture the moment on any given occasion and will outperform herself from one grand evening to the next.

Viktoria reaches all the way and her colorful, spontaneous persona will by all means make one forget to breathe for not only a short moment. Viktoria is already on the very top, yet once again aiming up.

Viktoria has been saluted by media wherever she has landed since she first grabbed that microphone, and rest assure, this show will go on. We suggest you buckle up. Expect a lot.

Jacob Karlzon’s
music resides in the intersections where Scandinavian expressions such as space, melancholy and sensitivity blend with heat and passion.

Jacob has been compared to such luminaries as Keith Jarrett, Bill Evans and Sweden’s own legendary pianist Jan Johansson. His playing style boasts technical brilliance, great rhythmic and harmonic complexity and a perfect feeling for form.

Jacob Karlzon is already a jazz veteran. His first album came out in 1992, since then he has recorded five more in his own name, and featured on at least 40 others. He has been showered with distinctions and prizes over the years. In 1997 he won the Jazz in Sweden award with the Malmö combo Blue Pages and was voted Newcomer of the Year by Swedish Radio’s annual jazz critic poll. In 2010 he was voted Musician of the Year by Swedish Radio’s annual jazz critic poll and was rewarded the Django d’Or as Contemporary Star of Jazz.

He has played with many other leading jazz musicians: Billy Cobham, Kenny Wheeler, Bob Berg, Tim Hagans, Jeff Ballard, Norma Winstone, Cæcilie Norby, Nils Landgren, to name but a few.

Jacob released his first solo piano album in the autumn of 2008. The third volume in a new series of improvised piano music, Improvisational three had Jacob interpret and be inspired by French composer Maurice Ravel. The album was enthusiastically received by the critics.

The most important forum for Jacob, however, is his own trio. JK3 has been touring in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Lithuania, Germany and UK playing in clubs and festivals for raving audiences and critics.

Booklet for Who We Are