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In The Country
Morten Qvenild is probably best known for being the orchestra in Susanna and the Magical Orchestra but has plenty more to show for. He has been a member of both Shining and Jaga Jazzist and is since long a member of Solveig Slettahjell's Slow Motion Orchestra. He formed In The Country with fellow music students Roger Arntzen and Pål Hausken at the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo in 2003. Since then they have been selected best young jazz artists in Norway, played concerts in Europe and USA and released their debut album This Was The Pace Of My Heartbeat (Rune Grammofon 2005) to much critical acclaim. Down Beat called it "one of the finest and most arresting albums to come out of Europe" that year, Mojo said "startling," Straight No Chaser said "fantastic," and a host of others followed.
Losing Stones, Collecting Bones is 11 Qvenild originals recorded in the legendary Atlantis Studio in Stockholm, home of the first classic Abba recordings. Avant-garde guitarist and downtown NYC icon Marc Ribot is participating on this record. Also the Swedish singer Stefan Sundstrom has joined forces with this unusual piano trio.
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Colin Eick
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In the Country: Sounds and Sights
by John Kelman
In the Country Sounds and Sights Rune Grammofon 2011 Since releasing its 2005 debut, This Was the Pace of My Heartbeat, Rune Grammofon's In the Country has, in the softest, gentlest way possible, evolved its purview and sound world, establishing itself as a piano trio like no other. Through two more recordings, 2006's Losing Stones, Collecting Bones and 2009's more ambitiously expansive Whiteout, this young Norwegian trio has gradually shifted its angle without deserting ...
read moreIn The Country: Whiteout
by John Kelman
Terms like magnum opus can be dangerous, setting unrealistic expectations for the present and a precedent against which the future will always be measured. Whether or not this release represents a magnum opus is far too early to tell, but In The Country's Whiteout is certainly this Norwegian piano trio's most ambitious album to date, standing to supplant its debut, the marvelously understated This Was the Pace of My Heartbeat (Rune Grammofon, 2005), as its most compelling and evocative album ...
read moreIn the Country: Losing Stones, Collecting Bones
by John Kelman
Leaving behind the staid piano trio tradition, In the Country broke new ground in 2005 with its Rune Grammofon debut, This Was the Pace of My Heartbeat. Unlike the more assertive Bad Plus and the generally more refined EST, this Norwegian trio managed to create a new paradigm for Grammofon's first self-described jazz" record, one that was high on resonance and short on shtick. While the same could be said for EST's early days, they've become predictable lately--and in many ...
read moreIn the Country: This Was the Pace of My Heartbeat
by John Kelman
When Norwegian label Rune Grammofon announces (in the press release for the debut album by the piano trio In the Country) that Rune Grammofon presents its first 'jazz' record," you know it's going to be a unique take on a well-worn tradition. No standards to be found here, and with an approach that intentionally steers away from emulating any kind of expected jazz tradition, This Was the Pace of My Heartbeat is nevertheless the most organic recording the label has ...
read moreDeep Cuts: George Benson "Valdez in the Country" (1976)
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Something Else!
By Pico When we last visited a George Benson recording, it was about his remake of the still fresh-out-the-oven Abbey Road. Fast forward seven years later, to 1976: Benson had just ended his long and artistically successful stint with CTI Records, having been enticed back to the majors by Warner Brothers. Warners put Tommy LiPuma in charge of producing Benson's records and the relationship, which spanned four years and four albums, transformed the guitarist/singer from a jazz star to a ...
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