And It Happened

And It Happened. The Music of Henrik Otto Donner includes eight compositions by the legendary Finnish composer, arranger and trumpeter Henrik Otto Donner (1939-2013). As Donner passed away shortly before the release of this recording, it also became the last recording of his music with Donner himself deeply involved in the project. Donner's compositions are performed by TUMO, a 33-member orchestra comprised of leading Finnish improvisers that is here in it's second outing following it's first, highly acclaimed recording with composer and trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith, Occupy the World (TUM 37). This time, TUMO includes a 12-member string section, led by Donner while the rest of the orchestra was led by Mikko Hassinen. The principal soloist is master saxophonist/flutist Juhani Aaltonen, Donner's alter ego on the tenor saxophone and his collaborator for five decades, who is featured on the tenor saxophone on three extended instrumental compositions as well as on the alto flute and the tenor saxophone on two of the four songs performed by vocalist Johanna Iivanainen. Finally, as the closing track, TUMO alone performs a new arrangement of the first composition by Henrik Otto Donner ever recorded, For Friends and Relatives, that closes the album just as it closed Donner's first recording in 1965.