While at Berklee, he met and played with many young and talented musicians from around the world, including saxophonists Tommy Smith and Donny McCaslin and pianists Christian Jacob, Danilo Perez and Laszlo Gardony.

He also took private lessons with the legendary bassist Jaco Pastorius in New York City and upright bass with Dave Holland, as well as playing with internationally composed groups like Forward Motion.

In 1988, Terje was invited to California to work with Santana drummer Michael Shrieve, resulting in the recording Stiletto on RCA Novus which also featured Mark Isham on trumpet and Andy Summers and David Torn on guitars.

After 7 years in the United States, Terje moved back to Norway in 1989, soon becoming a first call bassist on the creative Norwegian jazz scene.

In 1997, he started playing with Russian pianist Misha Alperin, recording two CDs, North Story and First Impression (featuring John Surman) on ECM.