In The Country is a piano trio consisting of piano player Morten Qvenild, bass player Roger Arntzen and drummer Pål Hausken. 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 Slettahjells Slow Motion Orchestra. He formed In The Country with Ballrogg- and Chrome Hill-bass player Roger Arntzen and Christer Knutsen-drummer 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 two albums on the prestigeous Rune Grammofon label (”This Was The Pace Of My Heartbeat” in 2004, and “Losing Stones, Collecting Bones” in 2006) to much critical acclaim. Downbeat called their debut album ”one of the finest and most arresting albums to come out of Europe” that year, and All About jazz has already put In The Country´s latest album “Witheout” (2009) on their “best of 2009”-list. Rune Grammofon says about Whiteout: Ambitious, epic and grand in scale, In The Country..s third album ”Whiteout” qualifies to be called their magnum opus. Most of the music was performed and written as a thank you, as is the tradition, after leader Morten Qvenild was awarded Kongsberg Jazzfestivals prestigious Musician Award. Other receivers have included notables such as Nils Petter Molvær, Bugge Wesseltoft and Sidsel Endresen. Qvenild is already established as a writer with a strong signature, original and melodic with elements from many genres of music. His playing is rich in detail and dynamics but never dominant, and together with bassist Roger Arntzen and drummer Pål Hausken´s sensitive and inventive contributions we are in for a treat when it comes to trio interplay. These eight compositions are all between seven and twelve minutes and are given time to develop, much like the best exploratory jazz and progressive rock music. from http://inthecountry.no
