Haftor Medboe Group - In Perpetuity - The Herald

WHERE once jazz musicians were wary about the use of the label for fear of alienating potential customers, the current - and better - tack is to expand the meaning of the term. The group led by Edinburgh-based Norwegian guitarist Medboe, with saxophonist Susan McKenzie, Australian trombonist Chris Grieve, and Icelandic percussionist Signy Jakobsdottir has a global sound to match the line-up. With strings provided by the Edinburgh Quartet, this is a very classy disc indeed and Medboe's compositions are as genre-defying as the production.
A little more muscle wouldn't go amiss in places (and Grieve, for one, can cut loose when given the chance), but this Scottish combo sits happily in the same contemporary bag as the Bad Plus, Bill Frisell, and Esbjorn Svensson - all acts with whom Medboe's band has shared a stage.