Terje Rypdal

Norwegian guitarist Terje Rypdal, celebrated under the epithet "tone poet of the Fender Stratocaster," weaves an unpredictable approach that fuses classical, jazz, and rock elements. His self-titled ECM debut arrived in 1971, blending jazz with prog rock, while the 1975 double album Odyssey came to represent the apex of his initial phase. The 1981 release To Be Continued earned recognition as a landmark fusion recording. Before the decade closed he put out a widely praised trilogy under the name Terje Rypdal & the Chasers. The concerto Q.E.D. followed in 1992. Skywards returned him to jazz territory in 1996, after which Double Concerto: 5th Symphony marked a return to classical forms in 2000. Crime Scene, issued in 2010, functioned as a live film-noir concept album, whereas Melodic Warrior in 2013 enlisted the Hilliard Ensemble, Bruckner Orchester Linz, and the Wrocław Philharmonic Orchestra. Conspiracy, released in 2020, highlighted a quartet built around a rolling groove, with Supersilent's Ståle Storløkken contributing on Hammond B-3. Rune Grammofon issued the double-length Catching Fire in October 2024, capturing a 2017 concert that paired Rypdal with Elephant9, of which Storløkken is a member.

Born in Oslo in 1947 to a father who served as conductor and clarinetist in a military band, Rypdal began piano studies at age five and added trumpet three years later. At thirteen he set both aside in favor of the guitar, which he mastered without formal instruction. From 1962 to 1967 he performed with the Vanguards, a Norwegian instrumental-rock outfit patterned after the Ventures and the British Shadows, until an encounter with Jimi Hendrix prompted a decisive shift. Late in 1967 he launched the psychedelic band Dream; their lone album, Get Dreamy, appeared on Polydor the following year. That same year he assembled another group alongside saxophonist Jan Garbarek and drummer Jon Christensen, issuing the ambitious rock-classical-jazz hybrid Bleak House on Polydor under his own name.

Rypdal initially enrolled at the Technical University in Trondheim with the intention of becoming an electrical engineer, yet soon transferred to musicology at the University of Oslo. Between 1970 and 1972 he attended the Music Conservatory in Oslo—later renamed the Norwegian State Academy of Music—studying with composers Finn Mortensen and George Russell. He participated in Garbarek's quartet for the saxophonist's ECM debut Afric Pepperbird in 1970. His first work as composer, Eternal Circulation, received its premiere that same year by the Garbarek Quartet and the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra. Appearances with Russell in both live and studio settings yielded George Russell Presents the Esoteric Circle and Electric Sonata for Souls Loved by Nature, both released in 1971. He also contributed to Garbarek's second ECM album Sart and recorded his own self-titled ECM debut the same year, supported by Garbarek, bassist Arild Andersen, and pianist Bobo Stenson. The recording traversed free jazz, progressive and psychedelic rock, and avant-garde classical idioms, establishing Rypdal's reputation as composer and guitarist across Europe.

He joined the all-star live session Morning Glory, issued on Antilles in 1973 and featuring John Surman, John Marshall, Chris Laurence, John Taylor, and Malcolm Griffiths. Further collaboration with Russell produced Listen to the Silence in 1973, while Rypdal himself composed Concerto for Violbasso and Orchestra for Barre Phillips. Two additional ECM albums appeared in 1974: Whenever I Seem to Be Far Away and What Comes After.

The year 1975 brought major developments. Norwegian Television commissioned Symphony No. 1, and the double album Odyssey emerged to widespread acclaim as the summit of jazz-rock fusion; the Odyssey Band toured internationally, enjoying particular success in the United States. In 1976 Rypdal reversed direction with the impressionistic After the Rain, on which he played every instrument himself. Another Russell project preceded a return to ensemble work on Waves in 1978. He closed the decade with a trio recording shared with bassist Miroslav Vitous and drummer Jack DeJohnette.

The new decade opened with Descendre, a trio session alongside Christensen and trumpeter Palle Mikkelborg on which Rypdal also played keyboards and flute. The second album with Vitous and DeJohnette, To Be Continued, arrived in 1981. After an extended hiatus devoted to classical composition, he resurfaced with the electro-acoustic duet album Eos in 1984. Trio formats resumed on The Chaser and Blue in 1985 and 1986. Also in 1986, Soul Note released the 1970 recording A Trip to Prillargui made with Garbarek and the George Russell Sextet. That year further saw completion of the modern-classical work Undisonus, though its release waited four years, along with two additional symphonies. The jazz-rock quartet date The Singles Collection, emphasizing concise compositions, appeared in 1989.

Undisonus for Violin and Orchestra/Ineo for Choir and Chamber Orchestra finally reached the public in 1990, earning the Society of Norwegian Composers' "Work of the Year" prize amid enthusiastic reviews. Q.E.D. followed in 1993, and the jazz-neo-classical fusion set If Mountains Could Sing appeared in 1995. That year also found Rypdal as session guitarist on Ketil Bjørnstad's The Sea and on Surman's Nordic Quartet, both ECM releases. Skywards, a 1997 sextet recording balancing formal composition with free improvisation, preceded two 1998 projects: The Sea II with Bjørnstad and the guitar-duet album Tekro II with Ronni Le Tekrø on Grappa.

Entering the twenty-first century, Rypdal maintained a demanding schedule of commissions while participating in Markus Stockhausen's Karta project and witnessing ECM's release of his own Double Concerto/Fifth Symphony. Lux Æterna, a five-movement work scored for soprano, chamber ensemble, organ, trumpet, and guitar, surfaced in 2002, as did a second Tekrø collaboration, The Radiosong, and the recording Sonata Op. 73/Nimbus Op. 76. with violinist Birgitte Stærnes, each on separate labels. Vossabrygg, a 2003 live sextet performance inspired by Miles Davis' Bitches Brew ensemble and early Weather Report, reached ECM in 2006 and included electronics, turntables, and samplers from Rypdal's son Marius. The 2008 duet album Life in Leipzig reunited him with Bjørnstad. Crime Scene, the large-ensemble film-noir tribute, and the six-disc concert set Very Much Alive, featuring drummer Paolo Vinaccia along with Storløkken and Mikkelborg, both appeared in 2010. After festival engagements, further commissions, and a period of respite, Rypdal returned in 2013 with The Melodic Warrior, comprising two extended classical pieces. The nine-movement title work (Op. 79), written for electric guitar, chorale, and orchestra, involved the Hilliard Ensemble and the Bruckner Orchester Linz under Dennis Russell Davies and was taped in the orchestra's hall; the four-movement And the Sky Was Coloured with Waterfalls and Angels (Op. 97), scored for electric guitar and symphony orchestra, was performed with the Wrocław Symphony Orchestra led by Sebastian Perlowski and recorded live at the Jazztopad Festival in Poland.

Following seven years of composing and guest appearances, Rypdal rejoined ECM for Conspiracy, his first studio album in two decades. The personnel comprised keyboardist Storløkken—previously heard on Vossabrygg, Crime Scene, and Skywards—drummer Pål Thowsen, with whom Rypdal had worked in the 1970s and 1980s, and bassist Endre Hareide Hallre; the album appeared in September 2020. Rune Grammofon's October 2024 release Catching Fire presented the double-length 2017 live recording of Rypdal with Elephant9.