Stian Westerhus (born 2 April 1979 in Jådåren near Steinkjer, Norway) is a Norwegian guitarist known for his experimental style, exposed with keyboardist Øystein Moen in the bands Jaga Jazzist and Puma.
Westerhus has a bachelor in jazz from Middlesex University under Stuart Hall, and a master from the Jazz program at Trondheim Musikkonservatorium, (NTNU, 2005). On his latest album Didymoi Dreams (2012) is his debut duo with experimental jazz singer Sidsel Endresen, we experience insane guitar rhythms meeting with a gibberish vocal world.
More About this Artist
Guitar Player Magazine“His improvised solo shows largely eschew chords and melodies, opting instead for cello-bowed atmospheres, jackhammer-style noise, and waves of distortion, before fading into glitchy loops. ”
All About Jazz“The boldly unrelenting Westerhus demonstrates that electronics, pedal techniques and a cacophony of noise can bring us to harsher extremes, but also to places of delicate beauty. His album Pitch Black Star Spangled has been called “a masterpiece of solo guitar” ”