Ivar Grydeland

Ivar Grydeland emerged as part of a youthful cohort of Norwegian jazz musicians whose rapid ascent reshaped the Scandinavian and broader European scenes from the year 2000 onward. As co-founder of the Sofa imprint, devoted to avant-garde jazz and free improvisation, the guitarist joined one of Tony Oxley's trios and maintains a central role in No Spaghetti Edition.

Born in 1976, Grydeland attended the music academy in his native Trondheim between 1996 and 2000. During those years the same institution drew Paal Nilssen-Love, Ingebrigt Håker Flaten, Ingar Zach and additional emerging musicians intent on steering Norwegian avant-garde jazz from the restrained ECM aesthetic toward a rawer, more forceful direction. By the late 1990s that movement had coalesced, and immediately after completing his studies Grydeland advanced it by establishing Sofa alongside Ingar Zach and Karl Seglem. The label's inaugural issue was Tony Oxley's Triangular Screen, captured after a brief Norwegian tour featuring the renowned British free improviser in a trio completed by bassist Tonny Kluften and Grydeland himself. A subsequent session with Zach ensued. In 2001 the guitarist helped launch the expansive improv ensemble No Spaghetti Edition. That September he traveled with Zach through Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia, then joined No Spaghetti Edition for an English tour several months later. Additional projects find him exploring free jazz alongside drummer Jon Christensen and noise-inflected improvisation with guitarist Øyvind Torvund. A quartet recording uniting Grydeland with Zach, Phil Wachsmann and Charlotte Hug appeared in November 2002.