Haftor Medbøe is a Norwegian-born guitarist, composer and educator living in Edinburgh, Scotland.
Bio
With his eponymous group, Haftor has recorded five albums and subsequently released albums with Will of the People (Pete Furniss - clarinet and Tom Bancroft - drums), Jacob Karlzon (piano), Espen Eriksen (piano) and Gunnar Halle (trumpet), Anneke Kampman (ex Conquering Animal Sound, ANAKANAK).
As a composer, Haftor has scored music for numerous film and television productions including Building a Nation (Wark Clemmens for C4) and the multi award-winning Tartan Short, Cry For Bobo (David Cairns). Other composition credits include the 2014 son et lumiere production, A Night at The Botanics, collaborative installation pieces with artists Alan Kilpatrick and Michele Marcoux, dance/video productions by choreographer/film-maker Katrina MacPherson and commissioned responses to a number of exhibitions for the National Galleries of Scotland.
Haftor is Professor of Music at Edinburgh Napier University, where he gained his doctoral degree in 2013. He is an internationally published researcher in the field of new jazz studies and has presented conference papers throughout Europe for, amongst others, the International Society of Musicologists, Rhythm Changes, KISMIF, HEA and the Nordic Research Network. Haftor is founding Chair of the Scottish Jazz Archive and a Director of the Edinburgh Jazz & Blues Festival.
Haftor Medbøe is a Yamaha artist
Latest Recordings
MEDBØE/MCKENZIE – REUNITED (2024)
Copperfly Records
Released: 20th February 2024
A long overdue reunion of Haftor Medbøe on electric guitar and effects and Sue McKenzie on soprano and alto saxophones. Recorded, mixed and mastered by Graham Coe.
MEDBØE/WISZNIEWSKI – POIESIS (2023)
Subcontinental Records
Released: 03 February 2023
A freely improvised suite featuring Haftor Medbøe on electric guitar and effects alongside Konrad Wiszniewski on soprano and tenor saxophone. Engineered by Garry Boyle at Slateroom, mixed and mastered by Graham Coe.
HAFTOR MEDBØE [Scandinavian] GROUP, Live in Edinburgh (2019)
Subcontinental Records
Released: 02 November 2019
Featuring Gunnar Halle (trumpet), Espen Eriksen (piano), Eva Malling (bass) and Benita Haastrup (drums). Recorded live at Edinburgh Jazz & Blues Festival 2013. Engineered, mixed and mastered by Michal Jankowski.
News
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Reunited – Sue McKenzie/Haftor Medbøe
After a lengthy and necessary break of 15 years, Sue and Haftor reunite in presenting a suite of freely improvised […]
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Summer Gigs 2023
First up is Glasgow Jazz Festival on Wednesday 14th June with Konrad Wiszniewski presenting our recent release on Subcontinental Records, […]
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Poiesis – album release
On Friday 3rd February 2023 the album Poiesis is released on Subcontinental Records in Bangalore India on limited edition compact […]
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New release and summer gigs
After a great summer of returning to music making following the corona hiatus with friends and collaborators new and old, there’s […]
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Medbøe | Halle | Malling – Hvor En Var Baen
Alongside Eva Malling and Gunnar Halle, I’ve been making a project that brings together the songs and texts of Danish poet […]
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Haftor Medbøe Scandinavian Group on Subcontinental Records
November 2nd 2019 sees the release of a live recording in the finest company of Scandinavian musicians on Subcontinental […]
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Live Dates – Summer 2019
Wednesday 19 June, 20:00 – Haftor Medbøe | Jacob Karlzon – Glasgow Jazz Festival, Recital Room at City Halls Friday […]
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New Recordings for 2019
The duo album with Jacob Karlzon is now on limited edition release on 10″ vinyl from Copperfly and is attracting some […]
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Haftor Medbøe / Jacob Karlzon – Album available for pre-order
The new album is released on 05 April 2019. To pre-order a copy of the hand-numbered, limited edition (250) […]
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Haftor Medbøe / Jacob Karlzon – album coming soon
Very excited about the forthcoming release on Copperfly. The album will be available on 10″ vinyl only (with bundled […]