Biography Terje Gewelt

Alumnus of Berklee College of Music and student of Jaco Pastorius and Dave Holland, bassist, Terje Gewelt has recorded some 70 CDs with Scandinavian, European and American artists including Billy Cobham, Tommy Smith , Misha Alperin, Michael Schrieve and for Labels such as RCA, CBS, Blue Note and ECM.

He has toured extensively with Billy Cobham, Tommy Smith and Misha Alperin.

From Wikipedia:

He was raised in Larvik, a small town on the southeastern coast of Norway. He started playing guitar at the age of 10, switched to electric bass at 14 and added acoustic bass at 17.

From 1979-81, he studied privately with the internationally recognized Norwegian bassist, Arild Andersen, and played in local jazz and fusion groups with, among others, the great Norwegian keyboardist Atle Bakken. In 1981, Terje went to the USA to study bass at the Bass Institute of Technology in Los Angeles. He studied electric bass with Jeff Berlin and acoustic bass with Bob Magnuson and played in jazz clubs around LA with guitarist Les Wise.

In 1982, he moved back to Oslo and spent a year playing with many of the best Norwegian jazz musicians. In 1983, Terje returned to the States, enrolling at the Berklee College of Music in Boston. While at Berklee, he met and played with many young and talented musicians from around the world, including saxophonists Tommy Smith and Donny McCaslin and pianists Christian Jacob, Danilo Perez and Laszlo Gardony. He also took private lessons with the legendary bassist Jaco Pastorius in New York.

Terje co-founded the acoustic jazz quartet Forward Motion with saxophonist Tommy Smith and released the recording "Progressions". He was also a member of the American jazz / world music group Full Circle, playing on their first two recordings for CBS Sony.

In 1988, Terje was invited to California to work with Santana drummer Michael Shrieve, resulting in the recording Stiletto on RCA Novus which also featured Mark Isham on trumpet and Andy Summers and David Torn on guitars.

After 7 years in the USA, Terje moved back to Norway in 1989, soon becoming a first call bassist on the creative Norwegian jazz scene.

In 1995, he got a call to join Billy Cobham's group. Terje played acoustic bass on two Cobham CDs, Nordic (1998) and Off Color (1999) on Eagle Records.

In 1997, he started playing with Russian pianist Misha Alperin, recording two CDs, North Story and First Impression (featuring John Surman) on ECM.

In 1998, he started the record label Resonant Music. Terje has released eight CDs as a leader, all on Resonant Music. As a sideman, he has played bass on more than 100 jazz recordings, including recordings by Billy Cobham, Michael Shrieve, Misha Alperin, Dag Arnesen, Roy Powell, Staffan William-Olsson and Ahmad Mansour.

Terje is well known for over-dubbing multiple basses in some of his recordings.

Selected discography

As leader

1999: Hide and Seek (Resonant Music), feat. Billy Cobham

2002: Duality (Resonant Music)

2003: Interplay (Resonant Music), duo with Christian Jacob

2004: Small World (Resonant Music)

2005: Hope (Resonant Music), duo with Christian Jacob

2007: If Time Stood Still (Resonant Music), trio with Kenneth Ekornes & Bjørn Klakegg

2009: Oslo (Resonant Music), trio with Enrico Pieranunzi & Anders Kjellberg

2010: Azure (Resonant Music)

2011: Selected Works (Resonant Music)

2012: Spindrift (Resonant Music)

2013: Steppingstone (Resonant Music)

Collaborations

With Misha Alperin

1986: North Story (ECM Records), feat. Arkady Shilkloper

1986: First Impression (ECM Records), feat. John Surman

With Michael Shrieve

1989: Stiletto (RCA Novus)

With Knut Værnes

1992: Admission For Guitars And Basses (Curling Legs), duo

With Dag Arnesen Trio

1994: Movin' (Taurus Records), including Svein Christiansen

2004: Time Enough (Taurus Records), including Pål Thowsen

2007: Norwegian Song (Resonant Music)

2008: Norwegian Song 2 (Resonant Music)

With Ahmad Mansour Trio

1995: Tumbleweed (Gorgone Productions)

With Petter Wettre Quartet

1996: Pig Virus (Curling Legs)

With Billy Cobham

1998: Nordic (Eagle Records)

1999: Off Color (Eagle Records)

With Roy Powell Trio

2003: Solace (Nagel Heyer Records), including Jarle Vespestad

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