Ketil Bjørnstad
| Ketil Bjørnstad | |
|---|---|
Ketil Bjornstad, Moers Festival, Germany, 2004
|
|
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Ketil Bjørnstad |
| Born |
25 April 1952 Oslo, Norway |
| Genres | Classical, chamber jazz, third stream, folk jazz, new-age |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, composer, author |
| Instruments | Piano, keyboards |
| Labels | ECM, Kirkelig Kulturverksted, Hubro |
| Associated acts | David Darling, Terje Rypdal, Svante Henryson |
| Website | ketilbjornstad |
Ketil Bjørnstad (born 25 April 1952 in Oslo, Norway) is a pianist, composer and author. Initially trained as a classical pianist, Bjørnstad discovered jazz at an early age and has embraced the emergence of "European jazz".
He is an artist on the ECM record label, but has also published some twenty books, including novels, poetry, and essay collections.
He has collaborated with other ECM artists, including cellists Svante Henryson and David Darling, drummer Jon Christensen, and guitarist Terje Rypdal.
Ketil Bjørnstad was trained as a classical pianist and studied with Amalie Christie and Robert Riefling, and also in London and Paris. He showed great talent at a young age, and won the title of "Youth Piano Master" in 1966 and 1968. When he was 16, he made his debut as a concert pianist with Béla Bartók's third piano concerto.
Bjørnstad subsequently turned towards jazz and rock, in close cooperation with the guitarist Terje Rypdal, bassist Arild Andersen, drummer Jon Christensen and the American cellist David Darling. He has recorded more than 50 albums, for labels which include Universal, Kirkelig Kulturverksted and ECM. He is particularly famous for the work Leve Patagonia (1978), which features Cornelis Vreeswijk and Lill Lindfors. His most famous song is "Sommernatt ved fjorden", sung by Ellen Westberg Andersen. Bjørnstad has released discs with a range of artists including Anneli Drecker, Kristin Asbjørnsen, Kari Bremnes, Lill Lindfors, Randi Stene, Lynni Treekrem, Frøydis Armand, the Stavangerensemblet, Anders Wyller, Per Vollestad and Ole Paus. He is internationally known for his Universal and ECM recordings, including The Sea, duo recordings with David Darling and Terje Rypdal, Grace, with Anneli Drecker, Bendik Hofseth and Trilok Gurtu, Floating with bassist Palle Danielsson and percussionist Marilyn Mazur, which went to the top of the jazz charts in Germany, solo triple album Rainbow Sessions and The Light, with Randi Stene and Lars Anders Land, which led Gramophone magazine to compare Bjørnstad's songs to those of Leonard Cohen. His most recent ECM album, Remembrance (2010), adds to his catalogue of his serene, meditative work.
...
Wikipedia