It’s one thing being recognised from the inside as one of Norway’s top jazz musicians, quite another garnering a similar level of recognition from outside the country. This is the fate of both Raknes and Brunborg. But lack of critical recognition has never been an impediment to producing great jazz. Brunborg is an exceptionally lucid improviser, his tone has depth and gravitas, yet can be light and flexible when the music demands. His ideas are refreshingly original and not tied to the pattern-based pedagogy so many saxophonists subscribe to. Instead he develops his lines melodically (the source of his widely respected talent), building his solo organically so it seems to rise majestically from the context that shaped it. Born in 1960, he was rubbing shoulders with Norway’s finest jazz musicians at the tender age of 22 in the band Masquelero, the 1980s Norwegian super-group with Nils Petter Molvær, Jon Christensen, Arild Anderson and Jan Balke, and he’s never looked back. Raknes, 15 years younger, has worked with Chick Corea, Michael Brecker, Bobby McFerrin and just about anyone who is anyone in Scandinavian jazz, created a minor classic with his own group on Tangos, Ballads and More and has taught double-bass at Norway’s top jazz institution at Trondheim. His tone, time and technique are things of wonder, and on Backcountry he combines with Brunborg to profound effect. The minimalistic duo context leaves every note each musician plays exposed for scrutiny – in other words it’s not a place for bluster, filigree or waffle. Comprising eight originals and the Argentinian melody ‘Alfonsina y el Mar’, every note each musician plays sounds shaped to fulfil its role in the overall architecture of each song – nothing could be removed or added without destroying the symmetry of the whole. Listening as each composition takes shape, from ‘Blooming’ to album highlights such as ‘Ice’ or the title-track, is like being witness to two master craftsmen at work and, as is so often the case with master craftsmen, they have created something of lasting value.