Grydeland was born in 1976. From 1996 to 2000 he studied at the music academy in his hometown Trondheim, an institution also frequented in those years by Paal Nilssen-Love, Ingebrigt Håker Flaten, Ingar Zach, and a number of other young players eager to take Norwegian avant-garde jazz away from the quiet pastures of the ECM label sound and into something more raw and powerful. A scene got organized in the late '90s, and fresh out of school, Grydeland gave the wheel a good push by co-founding Sofa with musical partners Ingar Zach and Karl Seglem. The label's first released was Tony Oxley's Triangular Screen, recorded following a short Norwegian tour where the famous British free improviser played in a trio with bassist Tonny Kluften and Grydeland. A session with Zach followed. In 2001, the guitarist co-founded the large-scale improv group No Spaghetti Edition. Grydeland toured Germany, Switzerland, Austria, and Slovenia in September 2001 with Zach, and England a few months later with No Spaghetti Edition. He also performs free jazz with drummer Jon Christensen and noise-based improv with guitarist Øyvind Torvund. A quartet session with Zach, Phil Wachsmann, and Charlotte Hug came out in November 2002. ~ François Couture, Rovi