Photos by Mats Persson
In the autumn of 1996, I received a music commission from Swedish Radio P2 Jazzradion. This became the starting point for Peter Danemo Kapell – a nonet consisting of three woodwinds, three brass, guitar, bass, and drums.
A year or so earlier, I had played a few concerts with a similar lineup, though with only four horn players. The experiences I gained from those concerts led to the formation of this expanded ensemble.
The music I wrote for the P2 commission was premiered in Malmö and Copenhagen, and recorded by Swedish Radio in Malmö. The outcome was so positive that I decided to move forward with the band.
In the spring of 1998, I received a commission from Rikskonserter (Swedish Concert Institute) to write 40 minutes of music. I composed a piece titled Solfége Syncopé, which premiered later that autumn during the Stockholm Jazz Festival, at the venue now known as Musikaliska. Fun fact, we shared the evening with Joakim Milder, who also premiered a commission from Rikskonserter.
This in turn led to an extended tour in 2000, again arranged by Rikskonserter. All concerts were recorded by our sound engineer, Surte Norin. I later selected material from those recordings, resulting in our debut CD aLive, released by Dragon Records. The album received very positive reviews in the Nordic music press.
A few years later, I applied for and received funding to record a new CD with the ensemble. It was an artist grant, which meant I had to find and contact a record label myself. I eventually signed with dB-Productions. In 2004, we went into the studio and recorded a large amount of new music I had composed. The album Resonance was released the following year.
Our final project was a short tour in Sweden and Denmark in 2005. Since then, the band has been on hiatus.
Peter Danemo Kapell consists of:
Staffan Svensson – trumpet, flugelhorn
Flemming Agerskov – trumpet, flugelhorn *
Peter Dahlgren – trombone
Per ”Texas” Johansson – clarinet, bass clarinet, contrabass clarinet **
Cennet Jönsson – soprano saxophone, bass clarinet
Fredrik Lundin – soprano and tenor saxophone, flute, bass flute
Mattias Svensson – acoustic and electric bass
Krister Jonsson – guitar
Peter Danemo – drums
* Thomas Cauderey replaced Flemming Agerskov right before the recording of Resonance.
** Per ”Texas” Johansson replaced danish saxophonist Henrik Sveidahl, who did the very first project with the band
.