| B i o g r a p h y |
Terje Rypdal
(born 23 August 1947 in Oslo) is a Norwegian guitarist and composer.
His music have been released on several albums of the German record
label ECM.
His compositions "Last Nite" and "Mystery Man" were featured in the
Michael Mann film "Heat", and included on the soundtrack of the same
name.
Starting out as a Hank Marvin - influenced rock guitarist with The Vanguards, Rypdal turned towards jazz in 1968 and joined Jan Garbarek's group and later George Russell's sextet and orchestra.
An important step towards international attention was his participation in the free jazz festival in Baden-Baden, Germany in 1969, where he was part of a band led by Lester Bowie.
During his musical studies at Oslo university and conservatory, he led the orchestra of the Norwegian version of the musical Hair. He has often been recorded on the ECM record label, both jazz-oriented material and classical compositions (some of which do not feature Rypdal's guitar).
Rypdal's collaborations both as a guitarist and as a composer with other ECM artists such as Ketil Bjornstad and David Darling in the 1990. Over the years he has been an important member in the Norwegian jazz community.