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All Music Guide:
A classically trained jazz pianist with a bent toward avant-garde improvised music, Ketil Bjørnstad is a well-known musician and writer in Europe. With his cerebral, atmospheric style that belies a palpable inner passion and an inclination toward genre-crossing compositions, Bjørnstad helped develop and popularize the "European jazz" aesthetic. He is also a writer and poet and has published over 30 works beginning with his 1972 poetry collection Alone. Born in Oslo, Norway, Bjørnstad studied classical piano in London and Paris before making his debut in 1969 at age 16 with the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra playing Béla Bartók's third piano concerto. Surrounded by the vibrant arts scene in Olso during the '70s, Bjørnstad became interested in jazz and developing his own style of music. Citing an array of influences from Bach and Ravel to Thelonious Monk and Miles Davis, Bjørnstad began working in an improvised idiom. In 1973, he released his debut album Åpning featuring what would become a core group of longtime associates in drummer Jon Christensen, guitarist Terje Rypdal, and bassist Arild Andersen. The album would be the first of several outings Bjørnstad would record for Phillips. Over the years, Bjørnstad's particular mix of jazz, classical, folk, and rock music would become highly influential in the development of what became known as "European jazz." Although he has become well-associated with the premier European jazz label ECM, he did not record for the label until later in his career with 1993's Water Stories, 1994's The Sea, 1997's The River, and 1998's The Sea II. In 2000, Bjørnstad released the duo album Epigraphs with cellist David Darling on ECM. That same year, he composed the millennium oratorio "Himmel Rand," featuring the texts of the poet Stein Mehren. In 2002, he released the cinematic soundscape album Before the Light on Universal. In 2004, Bjørnstad released the rock-oriented Seafarer's Song featuring his ensemble with vocalist Kristin Asbjornsen. Four years later, he returned to ECM for the concert album Live in Leipzig with guitarist Rypdal. In 2008, Bjørnstad once again worked with drummer Christensen as well as tenor saxophonist Tore Brunborg for the ECM release Remembrance. In 2011, Bjørnstad delivered the duo album Night Song with cellist Svante Henryson on ECM. The pianist, who is also a published poet, novelist, and essayist, has stated that the Italian filmmaker Michelangelo Antonioni was one of his greatest influences; to that end, he composed a series of works meant to act as "a soundtrack to an inner film." Recording with bassist Arild Andersen percussionist Marilyn Mazur, cellist Anja Lechner, Eivind Aarset on guitar and electronics, and saxophonist Andy Sheppard, Bjørnstad released the live suite, La Notte in the late spring of 2013.
Wikipedia:
Ketil Bjørnstad (born 25 April 1952 in Oslo, Norway) is a Norwegian 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 20 books (predominantly novels) and a number of poetry and essay collections.
He has collaborated with other ECM artists, including cellist David Darling, drummer Jon Christensen, and guitarist Terje Rypdal.Cite error: There are <ref> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist}} template (see the help page).
Biography[edit]
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, no: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.
Bjørnstad has worked in recent years with the Swedish cellist Svante Henryson. In 2000 he wrote the millennium oratorio Himmel Rand (The edge of the sky), based on texts of the poet Stein Mehren. He wrote commissions for the Molde International Jazz Festival in 2007 and for the Bjørnson Festival in 2008. He also wrote "Coast Lines" for the Canal Street Festival in Arendal in 2007 and "Hvalenes Song" for Vestfold International Festival in 2009. His music has often been used by film directors, including Ken Loach and Jean-Luc Godard. As a pianist he has toured all over the world, and visited jazz festivals including those in Montreal, Shanghai, Taipei, Rome, Nancy, Frankfurt, Leipzig, London, Molde and Kongsberg.
Bjørnstad first appeared as an author in 1972 with the poetry collection Alone. He has published about 30 books in all, including poems, novels and biography. Among his earliest novels are Pavane and Bingo – a virtue of Essentials. His novel Oda!, which is based on the life of Oda Krohg is regarded as a reference work on the bohemian scene in Kristiania (Oslo before 1924), and sits alongside his biography of Hans Jæger. A translation of his biographical work The story of Edvard Munch was published in English to coincide with a Munch retrospective exhibition. Among his other literary works are the critically acclaimed Villa Europa and the Victor-Alveberg trilogy, which consists of the novels Drift, Dream of the Sea and Road to Dhaka . Bjørnstad won the Riksmål prize in 1998 with Spiritual. The same year he wrote a satirical book about football, The journey to Gaul with Ole Paus. Mention must also be made of the millennium trilogy which comprises Fall, Ludvig Hassel's Tusenårsskiftet (Ludwig Hassel's Millennium) and Tesman.
Bjørnstad wrote the psychological thrillers The Custom Themes and Twilight. The events of the latter take place in the archipelago of Tvedestrand, where Bjørnstad lived in the 1970s and 80s. More recently, Bjørnstad wrote an award-winning trilogy about the young pianist Aksel Vinding. It consists of the novelsThe music,The River and Damen i Dalen (The Lady in the Valley).
Bjørnstad's literary breakthrough in Germany came in 2006 with Vindings Spiel (To the music) published by Suhrkamp / Insel. The influential critic Elke Heidenreich described the novel as "a perfect book" in her Lesen! program for ZDF, and it went straight into the bestseller list of Der Spiegel. The book was also Bjørnstad's literary breakthrough in France, and was awarded the Prix des lecteurs for 2008. To Music was published in English in 2009.Cite error: There are <ref> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist}} template (see the help page).
