Bio
Terje Lie Biography
Saxophonist Terje Lie, after a string of contemporary jazz hit recordings from his collaborations with music legends and multiple Grammy winners Jeff Lorber and Jimmy Haslip, has now released a new single, his own composition SLOW PACIFIC! The track, after several months past its release, is still spinning all over radio worldwide! It embodies the romantic connotations of the warm California coast and its rhythmically rolling ocean swells moving you along in a deeply soulful voyage. Terje’s alto saxophone on this recording is breathtakingly intense with a powerful, but sweet masculine passion!
Amazingly, Terje Lie is playing all the melody and chord instruments on Slow Pacific: the alto sax carrying the melody so powerfully; the alto and tenor sax, flute, and trumpet for the backing horns on the introduction and the ending, as well as all the keyboard parts, including the piano solo! – And Terje also produced this recording!
Terje is, as always, supported by a crew of top Los Angeles musicians on his new recording. None other than Alex Al is on bass! Alex Al is a multi-instrumentalist and is of course well-known for his many years as Michael Jackson’s bassist along with working with Stevie Wonder, Herbie Hancock and a slew of other major artists including on a number of Grammy-winning recordings. Alex Al has also been involved in the recordings of music for major motion picture productions for a number of years.
On drums is Tony Moore. Tony has been Terje Lie’s drummer on the majority of Terje’s recordings over the past decade. Tony is one of L.A.’s most in-demand drummers and it would probably be easier to mention who Tony may not have worked with in the contemporary jazz field and other popular styles than to compile a full list of names!
Joey De Leon is on percussion. Joey is one of L.A.’s busiest percussionists who also works with “everybody” among the premier names!
With the recording of Slow Pacific, Terje has embarked on a new era as a performing artist and truly relishes the role of now fully settling into the driver’s seat of his music productions! Terje is very determined and excited about the new musical directions he’s going in and is already working on his next productions!
More about Terje Lie
Saxophonist Terje Lie (“Terry Lee”) started his career as a musician during high school in Norway with his blues/rock band with which he appeared as a lead vocalist on Norwegian television at seventeen years of age.
Over time, he became a part of that country’s scene of young rising jazz artists and freelance musicians, featured as both a singer and saxophonist. Lie toured Norway, Sweden, and Finland with different groups and appeared on jazz shows at NRK, the Norwegian equivalent to the BBC. Lie was also a recipient of a grant from the Norwegian State Fund for Performing Artists.
Lie later decided to move to the U.S. since his favorite styles of music “were being created in this country 24/7 everywhere.” Loving the Southern California climate and being “a certified beach bum,” he chose L.A. as his new base. Since then he has been a jazz artist and freelance musician, performing in clubs and at festivals and concerts.
In 2007, Terje eventually decided it was time to start recording his music and his successful first album Traveler was released that same year. Traveler was followed by two very successful and highly acclaimed contemporary jazz albums: Urban Vacation, 2010, and Bright Moments, 2014, both collaborations with the production team of music legends and Grammy-winners Jeff Lorber and Jimmy Haslip. Tracks from those albums were picked up by all major contemporary jazz radio stations and all have gone into the top tiers of the Billboard radio charts for contemporary jazz/smooth jazz.
Terje Lie’s latest recording, SLOW PACIFIC, was released in the summer of 2019 and has successfully entered the playlists of radio stations all over the world where the track keeps on spinning to the delight of groove jazz listeners everywhere!
