Atle Bakken
Atle Bakken is a known composer, performer and producer from Norway, known on both
sides of the Atlantic, through his work with Stevie Wonder, Sting (musician), Andy
Summers, Snoop Dog, Andrae Crouch and scoring credits such as the FOX/HBO award
winning TV comedy series "MARTIN", starring Martin Lawrence. Atle Bakken
was just five years old when he played Glen Miller's Moonlight Serenade On A Hohner
Melodica . These were his very first notes.
At age 10 Atle started taking piano
lessons with Polish professor of music, Dr. Norbert Bojanowski. During the following
decade, Dr. Bojanowski took Atle through a complete repertoire of classical studies,
including the Masters; Grieg, Bach, Mozart and Liszt, among others. As Atle matured,
so did his music. Dr. Bojanowski nursed Atle's hunger for jazz and harmonies, which
continues to serve as an inspiration for both his composition and performance style.
Additionally, Atle developed a love for R&B and soul.
At 14, he played the music
of groups like Earth, Wind and Fire and Tower of Power. Atle soon started his own
jazz trio out of a growing need to expand his musical expression performing in the
style of Jimmy Smith and Larry Young. In the mid-seventies, Atle incorporated the
synthesizer into his music and was the first artist in Norway to use the Oberheim
4- voice polyphonic synthesizer (1979). Later, he was the first in Scandinavia to
record with the Synclavier Digital Music System.
At 17, he joined the National jazz
scene playing and recording with people like Jan Garbarek and Jon Eberson. Inspired
by Steely Dan and The Police, the sessions led to one of the biggest pop-successes
in Norway, selling more than 250 000 albums. Atle consequently joined Sony Music
as a producer and arranger for their Norwegian roster Atle joined ECM Records and
the group Terje Rypdal & The Chasers, recording and traveling all over Europe,
playing symphonic music and jazz .
Meanwhile, at home in Norway, Atle would produce
for Schlager Records and various other solo artists, as well as composing music
for video and multimedia projects. He would also assist Rypdal in his classical
scorings and orchestrations for the concert stage and theatre Atle went on to tour
worldwide with Andy Summers for two years and teamed up with Sting, playing at the
Montreaux Jazz Festival. Stevie Wonder requested Atle for work on Jungle Fever and
Diana Ross' The Force Behind The Power. At the same time, Atle attended the prestigeful
Dick Grove School of music, studying harmony and orchestration with Dr. Dick Grove
and the in-hopes-of-becoming-a-good movie composer Thom Sharp In the mid Nineties,
Atle was involved with projects for Sony Music's European division and Stateside,
Atle composed for three seasons on the now syndicated TV-series Martin. Through
his association with TV- and filmwork in Hollywood, Atle also polish his skills,
working with the orchestras at various scoring sessions He also worked on CD's for
Andrae Crouch, Helen Baylor and Alex, winning a Grammy for Andrae Crouch's album
and getting nominated for Baylor's. His longstanding collaboration with Crouch also
resulted in the Gospel legends latest studio album Pray , which went to the top
on the Billboard charts.
Atle then formed ALEX MUSIC, and started finding new artists
for recording. One of the projects , produced in association with EMI/Toshiba, was
released in Japan and sold over 1 million units. Atle & Alex recently produced
LEANA, a Swedish artist, who has already been charted on the top of the Billboard
and the European lists, and a World Music/ jazz project with Russian born composer,
Igor Rozhko. Atle is annually and recently named in Who Is Who In Hollywood in the
Hollywood Reporters Film & TV issue, mentioning the top composers in the world.
In 2005 Atle was requested to start the online music company, Castle Entertainment.
The project, with base in Zurich, Switzerland and Ibiza, Spain have Industry endorsers
such as Ramon Hervey III and Andy Summers. Currently , of Atle is concentrating
on a new personal music album and project, Future Sound Of Osterdalen with his deceased
Great Grandfather, Ingulf Bakken, a recording which also features Wyclef Jean, Andy
Summers, Terje Rypdal and others. He is also involved with projects for Castle Entertainment
in the US and Europe, Sony Music and EMI/Toshiba (Asia). Retrieved from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atle_Bakken