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Kjetil Husebø

Kjetil Husebø (aka Optical Substance) is a norwegian keyboard-player and a classically trained piano-player with a background from such varied musical landscapes as:improvisation, electronica, pop, cross-over, folk and jazz.

He debued with his own band; Coffee Pain at Nattjazz in Bergen in 1996 and he also wrote commissioned music to the municipality of Modalen in 1997. The same year he began to collaborate with Jigme Drupka (singer from Buthan) and he also played with Dj Erot (RIP) both in studio and on stage.

In 1999, Kjetil focused mainly on his studies at the University of Oslo (major-degree in History of Ideas in 2005). In 2000 he also played with the norwegian pop-band Bloom.

In 2003, Kjetil gave less attention to piano-playing and started his solo/cross-over project; Optical Substance, a project in which programming and production were posed centre stage. The project included various guest- musicians, a collaboration which resulted in the first album entitled Sub Luna. Sub Luna was made in its entirety in Kjetilo's home-studio in 2003 and was brought public as Optical Substance played its first concert at Moldejazz (Kulturhuset) in 2004.

Improvisation has always played an important part of his piano and keyboard-playing. However, in the last years he has gradually expanded his interest into breaking down barriers between various musical expressions and applying improvisation as a tool to explore the potential that lie in using technology on stage. In 2006, he started to explore and develop live-electronics and live-sampling setups based on various software and hardware. Furthermore, he also began to play with various musicians who focus on improvisation such as Alex Gunia, Audun Waage, Bergmund Skaslien, Li Tieqiao, Terje Evensen and many others.

In 2008, Kjetil began to work on a new album where production, programming and compositions were integrated with the last years focus on live-electronics and improvisation. In this process, he used a lot of live-samplings of musicians recorded between 2006-2008 and combined it with new recorded material, an effort which resulted in the new album entitled Adaptation which was released on August 23rd 2010.

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5
Album Review

Kjetil Husebø: Steps

Read "Steps" reviewed by Eyal Hareuveni


Norwegian pianist Kjetil Husebø attempted in his recent releases to integrate programmed sounds and live sampling into the sound of the acoustic piano. On Steps he focuses on the grand piano, his first solo piano album. The album was recorded in the famed Rainbow Studio in jny: Oslo in a short session in December 2014, with the assistance of the studio master Jan Erik Kongshaug, the experienced engineer who recorded countless classic ECM albums, including the seminal solo piano album, ...

3
Album Review

Kjetil Husebø: Sources

Read "Sources" reviewed by Eyal Hareuveni


Norwegian pianist and live sampling master Kjetil Husebø continues to develop his highly personal sonic language on his sophomore solo release after last year's solo debut Contradictions (Optical Substance, 2012). Husebø explores the grand piano as a sound source--acoustic or enhanced with live sampling and electronics. Both treatments of the piano sound organic even in its most abstract moments, and all blur the distinctions between jazz improvisation, contemporary music, acoustic ambiance, and electronic textures. All ten pieces ...

7
Album Review

Kjetil Husebø: Contradictions

Read "Contradictions" reviewed by Eyal Hareuveni


Known previously as the mastermind behind the Optical Substance jazz-electronica outfits, Contradictions is Norwegian pianist Kjetil Husebø's third album and first solo recording. Here, Husebø distills his piano playing and use of electronics into a personal music universe. In his most lyrical moments, references to fellow countrymen, pianists Bugge Wesseltoft and Jon Balke, and Polish pianist Marcin Wasilewski can be found in Husebø's musical language, but the success of this album is based on the cumulative effect of his disarming, ...

207
Take Five With...

Take Five with Kjetil Husebø

Read "Take Five with Kjetil Husebø" reviewed by AAJ Staff


Meet Kjetil Husebø:35 years-old, from Bergen, Norway, currently living in Oslo. Pianist, synth, electronics, live-sampling, programming. Main project: Optical Substance. Instrument(s):Piano, synth, laptop, samplers, electronics.Teachers and/or influences?Jan Garbarek, Bendik Hofseth, Nils Petter Molvaer, Biosphere, Jan Bang, Bugge Wesseltoft, Eivind Aarset.I knew I wanted to be a musician when...I heard Arild Andersen`s Sagn (ECM, 1991) and Jan Garbarek`s I Took up the Runes (ECM, 1990), when I ...

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Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Steps

Optical Substance Productions
2015

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Sources

Optical Substance Productions
2013

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Contradictions

Optical Substance Productions
2012

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Adaptation

Optical Substance Productions
0

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Sverd & sigd

From: Adaptation
By Kjetil Husebø

Videos

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