Per Texas Johansson: Orkester Omnitonal (CD)

Orkester Omnitonal was formed in 2020 and had its debut concert at the jazz festival in the same year. Orkester Omnitonal was born from the idea of creating a larger independent ensemble with freelance musicians from varying environments and backgrounds, classical, jazz, improv. The starting point was the compositions that classical composers such as Igor Stravinsky and Bela Bartok wrote as commissions for e.g. Benny Goodman and Woody Herman (Ebony Concerto, Contrasts) compositions that hardly contained any improvisation and were very demanding for the big bands. With this as inspiration, Orkester Omnitonal has recorded three new works by Viktor Skokic, Johan Lindström and Per Texas Johansson. All the compositions feature Per Texas Johansson as clarinet soloist on Bb clarinet, bass clarinet and double bass clarinet. The orchestra consists of improvisational musicians who fully master both ensemble playing and improvisation and can be heard performing prominent soloists such as Mats Äleklint, Fredrik Ljungkvist, Joakim Agnas, Mattias Ståhl, Karl Olandersson.