Ketil Bjørnstad，于1952年4月25日在奥斯陆出生。是挪威著名的钢琴家兼作曲家。最初他学习是古典钢琴演奏，可是Bjørnstad在幼年时发现了他对爵士热烈喜爱，之后就出现了“欧洲爵士乐” 。 另外Bjørnstad也是一个多才多艺的作家，发表了约20本书（主要是小说）和一些诗歌和散文集。
 
Although not too well-known in the United States, Ketil Bjornstad has been active in improvised jazz-oriented music for 30 years. Classically trained (studying in Oslo, London and Paris), Bjornstad performed as a soloist with the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra in 1969. However when he heard Miles Davis' In A Silent Way, the pianist decided to switch careers and head towards jazz. In 1973 he led his first session (a quartet outing with Jon Christensen and Arild Andersen) which was one of several that he would cut for Philips. Bjornstad's spacey piano playing (icy cool but full of inner heat) was a natural to be featured on ECM yet surprisingly he would not debut for that label for two more decades. In the meantime he appeared on thirty recordings which ranged from borderline New Age to rock, and he also wrote 18 books (including 14 novels) in Norway. Finally in 1993 Ketil Bjornstad recorded Water Stories (a 12-piece work) for ECM, featuring a quartet that co-stars guitarist Terje Rypdal.