Per Texas Johansson & Kari Ikonen

Per Texas Johansson: clarinets
Kari Ikonen: piano

When Kari Ikonen heard master clarinetist Per Texas Johansson’s band at Pori Jazz in 2016, he thought “what the heck”, sometimes we have to play together. This was already tried in 2020, and again in 2021, but everyone knows how it turned out.

The joint concert was finally successful in Stockholm last year, and the Swedish audience was captivated… and now this duo will be heard in Helsinki! There will be both composed and improvised sounds, the singing of angels and the roar of earthlings, and of course, in addition to the duo, there will also be solo numbers.

Pianist, moogist and composer Kari Ikonen (b. 1973), ennobled with the Emma statue, the Yrjö prize and international composition competition wins, is known known for his own projects and for his collaborations with e.g. with UMO Helsinki Jazz Orchestra, Orchestra Nazionale della Luna, Lee Konitz, Louis Sclavis, Ingrid Jensen and Bob Moses. He has performed in Russia and the USA, the Far and Middle East, Australia, Africa and more than 30 European countries. There are fifty records, 9 of which are under his own name.

Per Texas Johansson from Stockholm works as a composer, arranger and reed player. He works on various reed instruments, the clarinet family, saxophones, flute and oboe. He has made several records in his own name and two times won the price for best of the year jazz recording in Sweden and also several time been nominated for the Swedish Grammy Award. Beside his own bands he works with different bands in different genres including jazz, improv, pop and classical music. He has in resent years focused more in the clarinet family, including the bass clarinet and the contrabass clarinet.

Photos: Per Texas Johansson – Tina Axelsson and Kari Ikonen – Sakari Puhakka

The concert is supported by City of Helsinki, Svenska Kulturfonden and The Finnish Music Foundation.